Marczak
by jim1195
Summary: In the Republic's "Army of One Man", it's often the odd man out that's the most intriguing. Clones may not be the same, but they're similar enough that Ahsoka knew what she was dealing with, non-clone officers are a different story.
1. Part I

**PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS STORY HAS SINCE BEEN RE-WRITTEN AS _L_ _IVES WELL LIVED_. ANY FIRST TIME READERS SHOULD REDIRECT THERE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST.**

Part I- The Commander and the Colonel

They ran through the underground corridor, deflecting or narrowly avoiding blaster fire as they went.

"I told you this was a bad idea!"

"You think all of my ideas are bad snips, but they normally work."

Jedi knight Anakin Skywalker and his padawan Ahsoka Tano had infiltrated a Separatist munitions factory hidden deep in the outer rim with the intention of destroying the facility. The plan had been going well until a few minutes ago, when they had been spotted by an industrial droid, which had sounded the alarm. Now they fled a group of security droids and mercenaries.

"It doesn't matter if they usually work, only one has to fail for us to end up dead!"

"Have some faith in me snips, I've got them right where I want them."

They turned a corner to find a dead end. The mercenary captain, a Rodian, stepped forward.

"Drop your weapons, Jedi."

He spat the last word out with disgust as his men leveled their blasters on the two intruders.

"Great, now we're trapped."

"No, this is part of the plan."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS IS PART OF THE..."

"Ahsoka, get down!"

They both hit the ground as the ceiling between them and their pursuers collapsed in a cloud of dust. Blaster fire poured out of the dust cloud and ripped into the security team. The droids were cut down, the remaining mercenaries fled back the way they came. A squad of troopers in camouflage recon armor repelled through the hole and gave chase to the fleeing mercs. More troopers followed, including one who stood out to Ahsoka. He wore what appeared to be standard armor in the same camo as the other troopers, as well as a shoulder pauldron and kama. The odd trooper gestured to several others, who nodded and turned to carry out his orders, then turned to approach them.

"General."

"Colonel, what took you so long?"

"The map you gave me is at least a century old, cave systems change you know."

His voice confirmed what Ahsoka had already suspected.

"You're not a clone."

"No, I'm not."

"Who are you?"

Anakin interrupted this exchange.

"Colonel, have you met my padawan, Ahsoka Tano."

" I've heard stories from the men, but no, I don't believe I've had the pleasure."

"Ahsoka, this is Colonel Marczak, commanding officer of the 501st's advanced recon battalion."

He removed his helmet revealing a young human male, then extended his hand towards her. She reached out and shook it.

"I didn't know we had a recon battalion."

"You wouldn't, our work is normally done before the bulk of the legion even lands, this is only the third time I've met General Skywalker face to face."

A trooper came up behind the Colonel and quietly reported in. After the trooper left Marczak turned back to the Jedi.

"We're done here, charges are planted and security is neutralized. They found your ship, so you're going to have to ride with us General."

"Lead the way Colonel."

...

A few weeks later, Ahsoka was meditating in her quarters when she heard a knock on the door.

"Enter."

The door opened and her master walked in.

"Ahsoka."

"Master."

"I got word from the counsel, we're going to be on temple duty when we rotate back to Coruscant."

"Aww, come on. Why this time?"

"Apparently it's just our turn."

"Isn't there any way out of it."

"For me, no, but for you, yes."

"What?"

"You remember Col. Marczak?"

"Yea."

"His men don't rotate on the same schedule as the rest of the 501st, so they'll be in theater for another six months. I asked the Colonel if he'd take you along with him, and he said yes."

"What would I be doing?"

"By virtue of rank you'd be his second in command, but don't expect any preferential treatment. You'd be on the ground with the troops just like always."

"Sounds better than guard duty. When do I leave?"

"Twenty minutes ago, which is why I wasn't able to bring you back with me."

"Thanks, skyguy."

...

Recon battalion had its own ship, a modified _Acclamator_ -class cruiser, which Col. Marczak had personal command over. Without heavy equipment and with a minimal crew compliment, the ship was a lot roomier than most. The tour ended with Ahsoka being led into the mess hall by the Colonel. When he entered the troopers in the mess snapped to attention. He spoke.

"At ease boys. Most of you have heard of Commander Tano, she's going to be working with us for a while, so get used to her."

As the clones returned to their meals, Marczak motioned for her to follow him to a table at the back of the mess hall were they sat across from each other.

"I'm the only non-clone officer on this tub, other than you, so there's no wardroom, I prefer to eat with the men. That won't be a problem I assume?"

"No, I normally eat with the troops."

"Good, we're a little lax with rules and regs around here, I don't like 'em and the men are too well trained to need 'em. I understand General Skywalker agrees with me on this point, but I need to make sure you're on the same page as well."

"You won't have any trouble with me, sir"

"None of that sir crap, it's either Colonel or Marczak."

"Got it, Colonel."

"Now, the General seems to think you can learn something from me and my boys, so I expect you to do things my way, or not at all. Any questions?"

She hesitated.

"Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Shoot."

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-one standard years."

"And you're a Colonel?"

"Senate doesn't think any non-clone should serve under a clone, so they promoted me. It's not fair and I didn't want it, but it happened and I learned to live with it."

Ahsoka found herself increasingly intrigued by this man. He was younger than his men biologically and had far less training, but he was their leader and they clearly respected him. He reminded her somewhat of her master, but he was something else entirely. His presence in the force was off in a way she could not understand. This was going to be interesting.

...

The town barely qualified as such, it constituted only a few buildings, of which only two appeared to be residences. She could see why Intel would choose such a place for a handoff. The speeder stopped and the four of them stepped out onto the dirt road. Their party consisted of he, Col. Marczak, and two of his men. They all wore long, brown, hooded cloaks, the troopers over their armor, Ahsoka over her normal attire. The troopers and Marczak had painted their armor in garish colors to disguise it for this mission.

"This is it boys, and miss Tano, our contacts in that cantina."

As the troopers entered, Ahsoka was pulled aside by the Colonel.

"You might see things in there that will shock you, things you're not prepared for, can you promise me you'll be able to handle it?"

"I've been at war for more than three years, I doubt there's anything that can shock me anymore."

"Ok then, stay next to me and don't look anyone in the eye, if there's any trouble, I'll handle it."

With that they entered the cantina. The troopers waiting to either side of the door fell in behind the Colonel. One gestured to a curtailed doorway across the room from where they were standing. Marczak nodded and they started making their way through the crowded cantina. As they passed the bar area the Ahsoka felt the crowd pressing in on her even more. Then she felt a hand grope her ass. She immediately wheeled around and glared at the culprit, a male twi'lek who said something she couldn't understand, his friends laughed. A half second later the twi'lek was on the ground unconscious with the Colonel standing over him, as his friends stood and started reaching for weapons, Marczak barked something at them in the odd language then pulled her close. He whispered to her.

"Kiss me on the cheek."

"What?! Why?"

"Just do it!"

She did.

"I told them you're my wife, they won't touch you now."

Ahsoka wasn't sure how she felt about this, but was still grateful. She'd never experienced this sort of thing. As a Jedi, the few times she'd been in places like this, most had kept their distance from her.

When they reached the back where the doorway was, Marczak gestured for a trooper to look through. After peeking through the curtain, the man nodded and motioned for them to follow. As they entered, Ahsoka felt the Colonel pulling her closer to his side again, as she looked around the room she saw why. She was wrong when she said nothing could shock her, because for the first time she was exposed to a new level of depravity she had been sheltered from at the Jedi temple. As the crossed that room to enter another adjoining room, she attempted to block out her surroundings, clinging to Marczak so she would not have to reopen her eyes. The adjoining room they entered had only a table and a few chairs. A Bothan sat with his back to the far wall, their contact. The two troopers stood by the entrance while Ahsoka and the Colonel sat across from the Bothan.

"Colonel."

"Crier"

The agent smirked as he looked Ahsoka over.

"And who's your friend, the little lady who caused all the commotion?"

"You heard that, huh? This is Commander Tano, a Jedi, and none of your concern. Now where's the intel?"

Crier shook his head lightly in disapproval as he felt inside his coat.

"Impatient as always, eh Colonel? Ah, here it is."

He threw a holodisk onto the table, which the Colonel quickly grabbed and slipped into his belt as he stood up.

"Thank you, now if you don't mind we'll be on our way."

"Good bye Colonel, I hope you have fun."

...

The intelligence report had pointed to a weakening Separatist presence on Felucia, making now the best time for a counter offensive to retake the jungle world. However, the strength of the remaining droid garrison had to first be determined, a mission perfectly suited to an advanced reconnaissance force. They'd come out of hyperspace just close enough to jam their sensors and deploy the battalion via gunship before _Retaliation_ had jumped back out of the system. Hopefully this would keep the Seps unaware of their presence, but the Colonel was doubtful.

They created a small base camp around their landing site, but they'd need to traverse a hundred kilometers of jungle in order to observe the garrison. The Colonel led half the battalion on this mission while the remaining men stood guard over the gunships. Ahsoka went along with the scout team. Marczak purposely plotted their route through the most difficult terrain in order to avoid detection. The going was slow.

"Keep your heads on a swivel, never know when trouble is going to show up."

"I doubt droids are planning an ambush for us way out here."

"Still have to worry about the natives, primitives could be lurking anywhere."

"You ever seen them?"

"A few times, it wasn't very pleasant."

After a few hours they reached a shallow ravine and started walking along the floor. The vegetation created a dense canopy over their heads, and that combined with the sheer walls created a sort of corridor through the brush. The troopers were jumpy, occasional movement in the canopy stopped them in their tracks as they scanned for threats. Col. Marczak seemed uneasy as well, prompting Ahsoka to stick close to him. She could understand their caution, this planet's force presence was chaotic, more so than she remembered.

They'd walked about five clicks through the ravine when the Colonel held up his hand for the party to stop.

"What is it?"

"I don't know, listen."

She did, but the jungle was silent.

"I don't hear anything"

"Exactly."

Ahsoka heard a screeching from above before she was shoved off to the side. When she looked back she saw Marczak grappling with a blue humanoid with a bone club and wooden mask, a Felucian warrior. All along the line they'd attacked from above, the one Marczak was fighting would have landed on her head if he hadn't pushed her out of the way. She ignited her sabers and slashed a charging warrior across the face, then jumped over to another standing over a trooper. He blocked her first few strikes with his club, catching her off guard, but she quickly dispatched him with a backhanded slash to the leg. The Colonel had meanwhile dispatched his opponent with a vibroblade concealed in his gauntlet and had begun picking off warriors with his rifle. The troopers quickly recovered from the initial shock of the attack and within minutes the Felucians where either dead or retreating. There had been no fatalities among the clones, but several were injured enough to need tending to. It was decided they'd camp there for the night. As they sat around the small fire, Ahsoka again noticed that Marczak's men kept to themselves more than most troopers. While they would occasionally engage in conversation or share a joke with the Colonel, they rarely did any more than acknowledge her. She didn't mind so much though, as he didn't share that habit.

"Thanks for the save earlier"

"No problem."

"I don't understand why I didn't feel them coming, especially that many."

"Their shamans can mask their presence, but only for a limited time, that's why they went for you and me first."

"What do you mean?"

"You and me, the ones who could have felt them coming."

"You're force sensitive!"

"That depends on your definition, I can feel things in the force, people, animals, their intentions, things like that. I can't do any of the fancy tricks you Jedi can."

"How come I couldn't tell?"

"I learned to hide it, shield my mind from other force users."

"Prove it."

"Go ahead, try and get into my mind, tell what I'm thinking, what I'm feeling."

Ahsoka reached out in the force and carefully probed the Colonel's mind, but was quickly frustrated in her efforts. Every attempt met a solid barrier that prevented her any access. She focused, trying to muster a more violent offensive, but was still unable to breach the mental barrier.

"Give up?"

"Yea, how'd you learn to do that?"

"Necessity."

"Is hiding what you can do really that important?"

"No."

"Then why did you need to?"

"It's a long story."

"We've got all night."

"Fine. A month after Geonosis, and a week into my first command, intel came in about a possible Sep base on an isolated moon, Yavin IV. GAR high command thought it was enough of a threat to devote a battalion and the Jedi counsel, citing the planet's history with the Sith, sent two knights to command the mission. I'd never liked Jedi, every one I'd ever met had been arrogant, stuck up, all around unpleasant, and these two were no exception. We'd been in the field a week when they disappeared, gone without a trace. We searched all that day for some sign of them, but the jungle was even thicker than it is here. That was when the dreams started. Something dark lives on that moon, and it clawed at my mind, it showed me horrible things, countless atrocities from countless wars, the deepest disparities sentient life is capable of. It nearly broke me, if I hadn't learned to block it out I would have gone insane. Later we found the Jedi, one had killed the other and gnawed the flesh from his bones. I put one in the back of his head. The 'credible threat' turned out to be a single droid platoon guarding a small listening post, didn't lose a single man taking it. For my trouble they gave me a commendation and the most prestigious post they could find. I've been with the 501st ever since."

They sat there for several minutes until Ahsoka broke the silence.

"Wow, just wow. How have I never heard of this?"

"I covered it up. We burned the bodies, reported them KIA and the remains as unrecoverable. The troopers who know are sworn to secrecy and I've never told another living soul, until you."

"Then why did you tell me?"

"I don't know. I normally don't trust Jedi, but your different, like Skywalker."

"I don't know what to say, thank you Colonel."

"Ghes, call me Ghes."

She smiled.

"Ghes."

He stood up and stretched.

"Alright, you go get some sleep, I'm going to stay up for first watch."

...

The next day passed without incident, they made good time and set up camp five klicks from the target area by nightfall. Once again, the troopers broke off after the briefing for the next day and Ahsoka found herself with Ghes. They swapped stories of their own experiences during the war.

""Kidnapped by Trandoshians."

"Yea."

"And you were rescued by Wookies."

"True story."

"And I thought I'd done some crazy shit."

"Well, weird stuff like that happens to Jedi all the time."

"I've read the mission reports for a lot of it. It seems like you have a penchant for disobeying orders and getting into trouble."

"I do not."

"Please, I helped plan the Citadel operation. I know General Skywalker didn't want you anywhere near it."

"Oh really, if you planned it why'd it go so poorly?"

"I didn't say they used any of my ideas."

They both laughed.

"How'd you end up here Ghes?"

"Same way you did."

"Not Felucia, the army."

"I was an officer before the war, a Lieutenant, when the war broke out they slapped a Colonel's rank on me and gave me a battalion."

"Where are you from? From your name I can tell you're Mandalorian, or at least your parents were."

"Picked up on that, did ya? I try not to advertise it, but yea, my father was. He was a mercenary, until he met my mother and they settled on Coruscant. I didn't have the traditional _mando'ade_ upbringing, but I held onto the culture and the language, though I don't speak it often. With the Republic recognizing the New Mandalore government, and with Death Watch back, it's easier to lay low than draw suspicion."

"I take it you're not fond of duchess Satine?"

"No, she means well, but she's trying to throw away what it means to be _mando'ade_."

"But it's in the name of peace."

"Can you honestly tell me that, in your experience, peace is always the best option."

Ahsoka was silent.

"I thought so. War is part of life, more so for _mando'ade_ than others."

He stood up and put his helmet on.

"Good night Ahsoka."

"Good night, Ghes."

...

"Looks like intel screwed up again Colonel."

"I think so to Stalker."

Ghes, Ahsoka, and the sniper called Stalker, were perched atop a ridge line overlooking the main Separatists compound on Felucia. Contrary to intelligence reports, it appeared to have grown since it was last observed by Republic forces.

"All teams report in, any exploitable weaknesses?"

"Negative boss, perimeters sealed tight."

"Damn, well the raid is scrapped boys, remind me to shoot the next intel spook we see."

"Will do, Colonel."

Ghes was about to stand up when Ahsoka stopped him.

"Wait, let me look."

He shrugged.

"Sure, go ahead."

She took the binoculars and started scanning the perimeter of the compound. She smiled.

"I think I have an idea."

...

An oddity of Felucia was that, due to the large numbers of bio-luminous fauna, night was almost as bright as day. An advantage of this was that small camp fires were difficult to notice, a small thing that made a soldiers' life easier, but it also made sneaking up on enemy positions far more difficult, even at night. The Seps, however, had made the mistake of letting the foliage on one side of the compound grow right up against the wall.

Ahsoka, Ghes, and five troopers were going over this wall. It had been her idea and Ghes had said it was something he'd never try without a Jedi, but she'd convinced it to give it a shot. The plan was to infiltrate the compound, access and sabotage the computer core, then sneak back out, simple but extremely dangerous. The lynch pin of the plan was Ahsoka throwing them up onto the wall in between patrols.

"Here it is, you boys ready?"

"I don't know about this Colonel."

"If you're going to be a wimp about it, Slicer, I'll go first."

He turned to Ahsoka.

"Come on let's get this over with."

She looked up at the wall, more apprehensive about this plan than she'd been when she thought of it. Ghes noticed.

"Don't worry, if you drop me, I'll try not to alert the droids with my shrieks of pain."

Somehow this didn't make her any more confident, but she concentrated and threw him just high enough to land on the catwalk atop the wall. She held her breath for the few seconds it took for him to peak over the side and wave at them to follow. One by one she threw the other troopers up onto the wall, then jumped up herself. Inside the compound the made their way carefully to the headquarters building located in the center of the facility. Most of the organic officers lived here, and they were all asleep, so they only had to worry about a few droid guards. They stopped outside the computer core.

"Okay, what do we have in there."

Ahsoka reached out in the force.

"One duty officer, two droid guards, two manning terminals."

Ghes scowled.

"Damn, were going to need to go loud. Ripper, stun grenade."

The trooper pulled the grenade off his belt and threw it to Ghes, who opened the door and tossed it in. After the deafening noise and blinding flash of the grenade, Ahsoka entered the room and activated her lightsabers, impaling the droids on either side of the door. She was followed by Ghes, who took out the remaining two droids and the officer with three well placed shots.

"Slicer, computer. Vore, clean up. The rest of you watch the door."

Slicer got to work on the computer core while Vore threw the disabled droids and officer into an adjoining server room.

"You want his key card, Colonel?"

"Grab it. How long on the computer?"

"Ten minutes if I'm lucky, fifteen if not."

Ghes turned to Ahsoka.

"That woke someone up, I can feel him running to the command center."

She nodded.

"I can to, they'll send droids to investigate. We've got five minutes if we're lucky."

"We're never lucky. Heads up boys, droids inbound!"

The first group consisted of ten security droids, the troopers guarding the door took out when they rounded the corner, the rest took cover and called for reinforcements. Soon, the headquarters was swarming with droids.

"Dammit, there's to many!"

"We need a distraction."

"Then we'll get one. This is Col. Marczak, commence diversionary attack."

Outside, the remaining troopers that had accompanied them to the compound opened fire on the perimeter wall defenses, hopefully drawing droids away from the infiltration team.

"Colonel, we've got the data, virus uploading."

"We can't wait, Commander Tano, if you'd be so kind as to clear a path for us."

"It'd be my pleasure."

Ahsoka lunged out into the corridor and rushed the droids, Ghes followed close behind while the troopers took cover. Soon they'd fought their way out into the yard, where most of the droids were firing blindly into the jungle at their hidden attackers. They broke for the wall they'd come in over, mostly clear due to the attack being concentrated on the other side of the compound. Ahsoka reached the top first, killing the few droid sentries left and lowering the troopers down the wall. Ghes was bringing up the rear when he was hit in the back by three blaster bolts, knocking him to the ground.

"Ghes!"

Ahsoka looked up to see a squad of commando droids running towards them. She began beating back their fire while they continued to advance.

The lead droid reached Ghes and was about to put another round through his head when he rolled over and shot the confused droid. Equally stunned, Ahsoka leaped down to his side to cover him.

"I thought you were dead!"

"Dead? Please, it'll take more than a few piles of scrap to kill me."

The last two droids rushed them. Ahsoka cut the head off hers while Ghes shoved his vibroblade into the others chin. They turned and climbed up the wall.

"It's not funny, how are you not dead?"

Ghes tapped his breastplate.

" _Beskar_ , Mandalorian armor, reforged to look like standard issue, it's blasterproof."

He jumped off the wall and Ahsoka followed, slowing both their descents.

"Where'd you get that?"

"It was my grandfather's."

They met the troopers at the bottom and ran off into the jungle.

"I'll tell you one thing though, it's a lot heavier than plastoid."

...

Back aboard _Retaliation_ things changed for Ahsoka, the troopers started interacting with her more, striking up conversation, making jokes, more of what she'd gotten used to serving with Rex and his men. She asked Ghes about it during dinner.

"I don't understand the question."

"The troopers, why are they being so much more open to me all of a sudden?"

"Probably because you didn't die."

"What do you mean?"

"These men aren't like the clones you're used to, not anymore. We've been running special ops missions for most of the war, these men aren't trained for it, hell, I'm not trained for it. They get used to losing a lot of the replacements we get on their first time out, so they try to avoid getting attached to anyone until they've proven themselves."

"Oh."

"Yea, that's the sad truth of life as a soldier, if you're lucky, you live long enough to see every friend you've ever had die. But now you're just getting me depressed. When you're done with that, come down to the training room."

...

When Ahsoka walked into the training room all eyes were on her. All through the mostly empty space clones stopped what they were doing and turned towards her. Ghes was standing in the center of the room, in what appeared to be some sort of ring.

"Commander Tano, so happy you could join us!"

She walked over to him.

"So, why'd you want me down here."

"Simple, you're going to fight me."

"Ok, why?"

"Training. What's the matter, don't think you can take me?"

"If anyone needs to be worried, Colonel, it's you."

"Then let's get to it."

He turned around and walked over to a container sitting on the side of the ring. From inside he pulled a shock staff and a small metal cylinder. He tossed the smaller object to her, it was a lightsaber.

"Where'd you get this?"

"Some Death Watch wannabe came at me with it on Alderaan, it's a training saber."

She activated it.

"Why?"

"Because I like my limbs..."

He tapped his breastplate.

"...And while this will stop a lightsaber, the plastoid won't."

He activated his staff and moved into a fighting position.

"Let's go."

The troopers in the training room had moved to the sides of the ring and where watching them as Ahsoka and Ghes circled each other. She made the first move, a quick strike, easily parried. She followed it up with another three in quick secession, but he blocked those as well. As she backed off, Ghes stabbed at her with the end of the staff, she parried it off to the side, but he followed with the other end and hit her in the calf. The shock collapsed her leg and she fell to the ground, where Ghes brought the staff to the side of her neck.

"Dead."

The troopers laughed and Ahsoka glared at Ghes. She swept his legs and jumped onto him, holding her sabre to his neck.

"Dead."

Their audience laughed harder at this. Ghes used the staff pinned across his chest, to push Ahsoka off of him. They both leapt to their feet before going at each other again. Ahsoka stayed close in to deny Ghes the advantage of the reach his staff provided him, but this also limited her own options to quick, light slashes. Ghes, for his part, was able to block every one of her attacks, but lacked the room to make his own. This went on until Ahsoka used a quick feint to bring Ghes off balance so she could knock his staff to the side, as she pulled back for more powerful blow he brought his elbow up under her chin, stunning her long enough for him to bring the staff back around to hit her legs again. Ahsoka again found herself on the ground looking at the end of Ghes's staff.

"Dead"

"That wasn't fair."

"War isn't fair."

He powered down his staff and extended his hand to help her up. She grabbed his hand and used it to flip him, putting her on top of him.

"You're right, it isn't."

He broke out laughing as they stood up and left the ring.

"Should've seen that coming, good one."

"Thanks, good fight."

"A lot harder than you thought it'd be, huh?"

"Yea, I can't anticipate you with the force, and you don't telegraph much."

"You're not bad either, though you definitely need more practice against living opponents."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means fighting droids all the time is slowing you down, damn things are too stupid to put up a good fight."

"Still faster than you."

"I've got a good third of a meter and at least twenty kilos on you, and I'm in full armor."

"Yea, what's with that?"

"I'm going to wear it while I fight, so I might as well wear it while I train."

"Fair enough."

"So, how do you feel about doing that on a regular schedule?"

"How often?"

"Twice a week, don't want you to get to beaten and bruised do we?"

"You're on."

...

Umbara, with its eternal night and even more hostile native life, made Felucia look like a resort world. They'd been slipped in under the radar as pathfinders for the coming Republic offensive, a job more suited to commandos, but delegated to them by necessity. The battalion was spread across the assault area in small squad sized teams scouting landing sites and enemy positions for the real invasion. Ahsoka once again accompanied Ghes, as he attempted to run the entire operation while also carrying out observation on several objectives with his own team.

At the moment they were observing an airfield of the local militia.

"I'm telling you, these militia units are going to give us more trouble than the regular Sep troops."

"Vore's right boss, they've got weapons down there I've never seen."

"I'll put it in the reports, but you know most of it never gets to front line units until it's old news."

Ahsoka hadn't had much to do on this mission, they'd made a point of avoiding enemy contact and had spent most of their time in hidden observation posts. She found this sort of work monotonous, though Ghes and the troopers seemed very content with it. Recently she'd been trying to get Ghes to drop his mental guard around her, it had begun to bother her that he kept himself closed off all the time. She pushed this whenever the two of them shared a watch.

"Come on Ghes, is it really so hard to let your guard down for a minute."

"For me, yes. Why is this such a big deal for you?"

"I don't know; I just feel like you should be more comfortable around me. We've been working together for more than a month now."

"Listen Ahsoka, I understand your used to the whole Jedi 'communion with the force', but it's not that easy for everyone."

"Don't you trust me?"

"With my life."

"Then let me in."

He sighed and stared into the distance, as if lost in a painful memory.

"I saw things on Yavin, Ahsoka, it changed me, more than you could ever understand."

"I never knew you before, whatever changed doesn't matter, I like who you are now."

"You're still young, and there are things you just are not prepared for."

"Like what?"

"Darkness, a deep, unending darkness that gnaws at your very soul. It's still inside of me, Ahsoka."

"You said you blocked it out."

"The only way I could was to use what had already found its way into my mind. I've carried it with me since then, it's made me stronger, allowed me to use my innate abilities to a far greater extent than I could before. But in return it continues to eat away at me, it is my curse, my burden to carry."

She placed her hand on his and looked him in the eyes.

"It doesn't have to be Ghes, I can help you, but only if you let me in."

Silence followed as Ghes considered what she was offering, several minutes passing before he gave his response.

"Ok, how do you want to do this."

...

After Vore and Stalker relieved them, Ahsoka led Ghes to a private clearing a few meters away from their camp site. There she bade him to sit across from her.

"We're going to meditate, I want you to relax and lower your defenses so I can access your mind."

"I'll try."

They both closed their eyes and started breathing slowly and steadily. Ahsoka reached out in the force and felt Ghes's familiar presence. She felt the mental barriers, and silently pleaded with him to lower them. For the first time, she felt them fall away. The entirety of his being suddenly rushed over her; memories, hopes, dreams, emotions, and then she felt the presence. It was distinct from Ghes, though it had embedded itself deeply inside him. It was as he'd described it, ancient and dark, and it to washed over her. Then, in an instant, it was gone, she had no idea where, but she no longer felt it. Satisfied that it would not return, she immersed herself in Ghes's presence, and their she found something which surprised her. Deep is his mind were his true feelings for her, how he'd felt when he first saw her, his want to shield her from harm, the admiration built on Felucia, all their training bouts, the trust he'd placed in her, enough to finally open himself up to her. She lunged at him, knocking him on his back, their lips met in a deep passionate kiss as they embraced. When it was over he smiled up at her.

"What was that for?"

"I think I'm in love with you."

"Isn't that one of the things Jedi aren't allowed to do?"

"I don't care."

...

Little changed the next day, even for a planet with no real day cycle, but Ahsoka felt as if her entire life was different. It many respects that was true, yesterday Ghes was a man she had not known for long, but with whom she'd forged a strong friendship. Now she'd crossed a line with him she had never considered crossing before. Ghes was great, he'd made her feel at home when she'd felt isolated, he trusted and confided in her, he pushed her to be better fighter, he opened up to her in a way no one else ever had. In a lot of ways, he reminded her of Master Skywalker, the similarities between the two were probably why they respected each other so much. But while Anakin was like a father to her in the way Master Kenobi had been a father to him, she felt differently about Ghes. Maybe it was because he was younger, maybe it was because they didn't share the same kind of mentor-student relationship, all she knew was that she had romantic feelings for him that she'd never felt for anyone else. Surprisingly, the least of her concerns was how she'd breached the Jedi code. She felt no guilt, no shame, no remorse over what she'd done, as she'd always thought she would. Maybe something had changed inside of her.

Ahsoka had woken up in his arms, her back to him. To her surprise, though Slicer and Niner had clearly seen them in this position, the clones had said nothing about it. This was okay with her, as she didn't feel like having to explain this right now. Soon after they'd awoken, it was time to move on to observe another potential target, an artillery battery several kilometers away. There wasn't much talking along the way, as they had to avoid numerous enemy patrols, as well as civilians, along the way. When they arrived a camouflaged camp and observation post were set up. As was his habit, Ghes took the first watch, so Ahsoka took it with him.

"So, were do we go from her?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know, us, what happens next, I figured you'd have more experience with this than me."

"Nope, I'm just as clueless as you."

"Really?"

"I was a Lieutenant in the joke that was the Republic Army at seventeen, the war broke out three months later, haven't had time for much of a love life."

"Wasn't their anyone before the army?"

"I spent most of my childhood either with my father training me to be a warrior, or with my mother trying to convince me to be anything but, I guess I missed some experiences along the way."

"No more than I missed growing up in the temple."

"Then I guess we'll have to figure it out together. But at least I know one thing..."

He placed his arm over her and pulled her closer.

"...this feels right."

...

The invasion of Umbara went just as poorly as Ghes had suspected, none of the actionable intelligence they'd collected made it to troops in time to make a difference, and he lost a lot of good men in launching diversionary attacks to keep heat off the landing sites. After the initial assault, Ghes's battalion was withdrawn from the campaign and given early leave for their valiant actions. At the same time, Master Skywalker was recalled to Coruscant by the Chancellor, so he hitched a ride aboard _Retaliation_ with them. Ahsoka's reunion with her master was a joyful one, and for the first time she was glad Ghes could shield himself so easily, as he and Anakin exchanged notes on her at length. As a precaution, Ghes assigned him quarters on the opposite side of the ship as them, as she'd taken to sleeping in Ghes's quarters. Despite this, they hadn't really done anything yet. Neither having any experience, they'd decided to wait until it felt natural to take their budding relationship further.

That moment came a few days into the voyage after a particularly rigorous training session. During their final bought, Ahsoka had pinned Ghes to the ground, their eyes met and they both felt an urgent desire for the other. They quickly excused themselves, much to Skywalker's confusion, and hurried back to Ghes's quarters. They fell asleep in each other's arms, completely satisfied with this new stage of their romance. Then the morning came, and they were awoken by a knocking on the door.

"Colonel, have you seen Ahsoka anywhere, she's not in her room. Colonel? Colonel!"

Frustrated by the lack of response from Ghes, Anakin burst in on the two lovers.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!"

"Wait, Master, I can explain!"

"Explain what Ahsoka, how you've decided to betray the Jedi code! How could you do this!"

"Because I love him!"

She burst into tears and buried her head in Ghes's chest. He ran his hand over her lekku to sooth her, then stood up to confront Anakin.

"Do you really want to talk about the Jedi code, General Skywalker?"

"What do you mean Marczak?"

"I'm taking about how hypocritical you're being towards me and Ahsoka when you've been having an affair with Senator Amidala for years!"

Anakin was visibly taken aback by this accusation.

"What, that's not... I'd never... How'd you find out?"

"Rumors, Skywalker, people start talking when a Jedi Knight spends so much time visiting a senator's private office."

Ahsoka joined back in at this revelation.

"You're sleeping with Padme!"

"No, not so much sleeping with as..."

"As what, married to?"

His silence was all the answer she needed.

"Married! You're married and you have the nerve to lecture me about the code!"

"It was years ago! We were captured on Geonosis, we thought we were about to die, it just happened... and I have no leg to stand on here, do I?"

"No."

Skywalker sighed, defeated, and left the room. Ahsoka quickly dressed and followed, stopping him down the hall.

"Anakin, wait."

"What?"

"I don't want to leave it like this."

"What do you expect me to say, Ahsoka, you're too young to understand what you've just gotten yourself into."

"Don't pull that crap on me, I can make my own decisions, and I know exactly what I've done."

"Do you know what it's like, keeping a secret like this? I do, and it's the hardest thing I've ever had to do."

"But you do it."

He thought that over for a moment before once again turning to leave.

"I won't stand in your way, Ahsoka, I just want you to understand what you're doing."

...

The remainder of the trip back to Coruscant was uneventful. After their confrontation with Anakin, Ahsoka and Ghes no longer needed to restrain themselves during the day, as news of their relationship had already spread among the troopers, none of whom would ever say anything. Anakin left soon after _Retaliation_ landed, leaving Ahsoka and Ghes standing on the platform.

"So, what do you want to do?"

"Well, I pretty sure I'm supposed to report back to the temple."

"What if you weren't here?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean we're not technically here, technically we're on a deep strike raid in the outer rim. I had this leave kept off books so it wouldn't reset our clock."

"We're not even supposed to be here, are we?"

"No, but the boys deserve a break, and it's not like there's anything worth destroying on Mustafar anyway."

An hour later, they were in one of the bars around the main GAR complex frequented by clones. As always, it was crowded with troopers from various units on leave from the front. Ahsoka and Ghes sat toward the back of the bar, where his men as well as those from other special units tended to congregate. At the moment they were listening to a jumptrooper relate one of his war stories.

"So my pack cuts out midflight, fifty meters up, and I end up tangled in the canopy. Everyone keeps on going, and I get left behind. I'm sitting there for an hour thinking, this is it, I'm gonna starve to death, when a droid patrol happens by. They look up at me and start yelling for me to surrender. Naturally I tell 'm to screw off, so they open fire. The first shot cuts the vines I'm tangled in, this far from my face, and I fall on the branch below me. I'm about to shoot back when I feel the branch starting to move. Next thing I know, the whole thing drops out from under me and lands right on the clankers! Would have been perfect if the fall didn't mess up my leg, I was stuck there on top of a pile of dead droids for another six hours before these jokers come back for me."

"Great one Ax, how about you Colonel, anything interesting happen to you this time around?"

Off duty, Ghes wore purple and gold armor rather than the grey GAR officer's uniform.

"Nothing much, got shot again on Felucia, twice in the back. Scared the crap out of the commander here."

The clones broke out laughing.

"How many times the clankers gotta kill you before you take the hint."

"What can I say, it's the beskar."

"Where can I get some of that?"

"Only comes from Mandalore, and the New Mandalore government doesn't forge armor out of it."

"Well then where'd you get yours?"

"Family heirloom, every piece of this armor belonged to one of my ancestors, and the chest piece for my combat armor was reforged from the one my grandfather wore."

"Well then we should thank the old man, without his hand me downs you'd be dead a dozen times over."

They spent another few hours there before most of the men were too drunk to stand, so Ahsoka drove herself and Ghes to an apartment he maintained in the same part of the city he grew up in. It was a decently sized place in the mid-levels of one of the large residential towers. As they entered, she looked around at the sparsely decorated accommodations.

"Nice place."

Ghes looked up from where he'd fallen into a chair.

"Huh? Yea, not very impressive interior, but then again, I normally don't have company."

She smiled and sat down on his lap.

"Somebody had a bit too much to drink, didn't they?"

"Ha ha. I swear, Jango must've had a ridiculously high alcohol tolerance, this is the fourth time I've almost killed myself trying to keep up with those boys."

"You ready for bed then?"

"Yea, help me up."

She pulled him to his feet and supported him to the bedroom where she laid him on the bed. He was quickly asleep and she laid down next to him. Ahsoka lay awake for a while, wondering how this was all going to work out, would she and Ghes ever be able to live a more normal life? She pushed these thoughts to the back of her mind as she pulled up close to Ghes and drifted off to sleep.


	2. Part II

Part II- The Fall

Ahsoka stepped out onto a familiar platform at the GAR's main staging area on Coruscant. She scanned the crowd, and saw Ghes off to the side. She quickly made her way over to him and they ducked behind a stack of crates. It'd been weeks since they'd seen each other, after the few days they'd spent together on Coruscant, their duties had kept them apart. Ahsoka had gone on several missions, guarding senator Amidala on Mandalore, stopping Zygerian slavers, stopping a plot to assassinate the Chancellor. Ghes and his men had been raising hell across the outer rim with lightning attacks on Separatist outposts, trying to keep them off balance. As such, the only communication they'd had was a few holocom calls. Now, finally reunited, they embraced.

"Miss me, Tano?"

"Just kiss me stupid."

Discreetly, Ghes and Ahsoka made their way from the landing pad to the motor pool and the speeder he had 'commandeered' for them.

"Where'd you get this?"

"The speeder? I just took it, the troopers in charge of this place don't ask to many questions."

She shook her head as she climbed into the passenger seat.

"You're going to get those boys in trouble."

"It's not like I don't have the authority; I just don't want to leave a paper trail."

"And why might that be?"

"Because then people start asking questions like 'why do you need it', 'where are you going', 'why does this say you're on Malastare'…."

He saw the look she was giving him.

"Don't worry, I'm actually on leave this time, but I still prefer to keep a low profile."

"Good, wouldn't want to have to report you."

"Ha ha, very funny. Now, where to?"

"The Temple."

"Do we have to?"

"Yes, you'll be fine, there are troopers walking around there all the time."

Ghes sighed as he lifted the speeder into the skylanes, she knew he wouldn't want to go anywhere near the Temple, but she'd make it up to him later.

"So, how have things been with you and Skywalker?"

"It was weird at first, but I think he's starting to accept us being together."

That was only half true. While things between her and Anakin weren't as tense as they'd been following their initial confrontation, he still refused to really talk to her about it any meaningful way.

"Good, because he hasn't said a word to me, all the orders he sends are written, and I'm pretty sure he started cutting me out of strategy briefings."

"Oh, he's definitely still mad, but he's realized he can't do anything about it without hurting me."

"Or himself."

Ahoska hadn't considered that before. If Anakin ever did try and rat her out to the Council, he'd risk Ghes exposing his marriage to Padme. She wasn't sure how she felt about basically blackmailing her master into silence.

"Would you really do it, ruin his life like that?"

"Only if he hurt you."

They made good time reaching the Temple, located in its own precinct adjacent to the Senate district. After landing on one of the lower levels, Ahsoka led Ghes through the cavernous halls of the vast structure.

"Isn't this all a bit excessive?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's all too big, too grand, too extravagant, especially for an order that's supposed to be about humble service."

"I don't know; I've never really thought about it."

"You've lived here most of your life and never thought about why it's essentially a palace?"

"Did you ever think about why every inch of Coruscant is covered by Galactic city?"

He shrugged.

"No, that's just how it always was."

"And this is how it's always been for me."

The grandeur of the Temple was toned down around the living quarters, the Jedi had to do something to make themselves believe in the Order's austerity, Ghes joked. Ahsoka went to her room, first making sure she wasn't on the duty roster for anything, and motioned for Ghes to follow her while no one was around.

"And I thought my place was simple."

"Yea, well this room contains everything I own, so watch what you say."

"About what, there isn't anything in here but a bed and a dresser?"

As Ahsoka collected a few things from various drawers, a knock on the door got her attention. She turned to Ghes, leaned up against a wall fiddling with his sidearm, and signaled for him to stay quiet while she answered.

"Who is it?"

"Bariss."

Shit, of all the bad times she could have come. Ghes's presence in the Temple may have been easy enough to explain, but in her quarters was a different matter.

"Yes?"

"Ahsoka, I was wondering if you wished to eat lunch together?"

"No thanks, I'm not hungry."

"Are you feeling ill, I can retrieve a medic?"

"No, Bariss, I'm fine."

"I'd feel better if you'd open the door."

She looked over to Ghes, who held up his pistol, probably suggesting that they stun her. Ahsoka glared at him, quickly putting an end to that line of thought, and he shrugged as if to say he hadn't a clue what to do either. She bit her lip, thinking over her options for a moment before opening the door and quickly pulling the Mirialan girl inside. Startled Bariss began to question Ahsoka.

"That wasn't really what I meant, but…"

She fell silent again as she noticed Ghes, still leaning up against the far wall.

"Ahsoka, who's this?"

"This is Colonel Marczak, we were, um, going over some mission reports."

Ghes stepped forward and offered his hand for the confused girl to shake. She did, hesitantly.

"You're not a clone."

"So I'm told."

Bariss started to regain more of her composure at this point, and stepped back towards the door.

"You're obviously busy, so I'll just excuse myself, unless you want to join us for lunch Colonel?"

"I'd love to."

Ahsoka's eyes widened, clearly shocked by Ghes's agreement. She couldn't think of anything that would get them out of eating lunch with Bariss now, so she put on a false smile and followed her friend out of the room, glaring angrily at Ghes all the way.

It went better than she initially expected, Ghes had a few recent mission reports on him and he managed to strike up a conversation with Bariss, albeit about Ahsoka's various discipline issues. She laughed uneasily, making a mental note to get back at him for this later, and searched Bariss's face for any sign that she suspected something. After they'd finished eating, Ghes took the empty plates away, leaving the two Jedi sitting across from each other. Ahsoka tried to make small talk about saber forms, but Bariss cut her off.

"What's going on with you and him?"

Ahsoka's heart jumped into her throat, how did she know?

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't lie to me, there's something going on between you and that man, and you're going to tell me what it is."

"I don' know what you're talking about, Bariss…"

"I'm not stupid, Ahsoka, it's obvious there's something, he was in your quarters with you, the excuse you gave for that was painfully transparent, and your emotions are all over the place."

Once again, Ahsoka couldn't think of anything to say that would satisfy Bariss, so she decided it would be best just to come clean.

"Fine, your right, something is going on between me and Ghes."

Bariss raised her eyebrow at Ahsoka's use of Ghes's first name.

"Ghes? Ahsoka, what have you gotten yourself in to?"

Just then, Ghes returned to the table, blissfully unaware of the current direction of conversation.

"Commander Tano, we have a briefing we need to get to…"

Ahsoka held up her hand to stop him saying anything more.

"Drop it, Ghes, she knows."

He seemed more annoyed then shocked, immediately sitting back down with a sigh.

"It was her wasn't it?"

"Hey!"

"Yes, Colonel, it was."

"Should've figured."

Angered by that last comment, Ahsoka elbowed him in the side while angrily glaring at him.

"And why's that?"

Ghes held up his hand and started counting the reasons off on his fingers.

"The crappy excuse for me being in your room, the fact that you can't hide your emotions, the fact that you keep panicking and making bad decisions…"

"Really? Like what?"

"Pulling her into the room, what was that supposed to accomplish?"

"What was agreeing to go to lunch supposed to accomplish?"

"I thought it would look suspicious if I refused."

"How? How would it look suspicious?"

Before Ghes could formulate an answer, Bariss, who'd been quietly watching their argument, cleared her throat loudly. Reminded of the crisis at hand, the two dropped their argument and turned their attention back to Bariss. The three sat there staring at each other for another minute before Ghes nudged Ahsoka and gestured for her to say something.

"So, Bariss… there's no need to tell anyone else about this, is there?"

"I don't feel right lying for you, Ahsoka, especially about something like this."

"You don't have to lie, just don't say anything to anyone."

"Ahsoka…"

A beeping from Ghes's gauntlet interrupted. He put his helmet on to look at the message on his HUD.

"Huh, looks like I actually do have to be at a briefing, in the Temple command center, weird."

He stood and was about to excuse himself when Ahsoka received the same message on her comlink. She shrugged and stood to follow him, but first turned back to Bariss.

"Please just promise me you won't tell anyone until I've had a chance to explain."

"Fine, you have my word I won't mention this to anyone, yet."

"Thank you, Bariss, I promise I'll be back soon."

…

The dropship came in low over the jungle to avoid detection. Anakin, Obi wan, Ahsoka, Ghes, and Rex stood in the cargo bay waiting for the signal to deploy. Their mission on Onderon was to train rebel forces attempting to overthrow the Separatist regime, something the Jedi council had been reluctant to do. Ahsoka was unsure how she felt about this, as it required her and Ghes to be together with Anakin for who knows how long, and he'd looked particularly pissed when they'd walked into the mission briefing late and together. Then there was Lux, she had no idea how Ghes would react to meeting him, especially since she hadn't really explained every aspect of their previous encounters with him. Luckily, he seemed more concerned with the logic behind the mission than those two particulars.

"I don't see why you didn't just pass this along to Special Ops, this is a job for Commandos, not Jedi."

"The request for assistance was made directly to the Council, Colonel, it's precisely Jedi whom they want."

"Then why'd you bring Rex and me along?"

"They may want Jedi, but they need soldiers. Captain Rex has experience training troops and, from what Ahsoka claims, you're rather adept at guerilla warfare."

"And here I thought you just liked having me around."

Suddenly, the pilots voice came over the intercom.

"We've reached the drop zone, go, go, go!"

The supply crates were the first out the door, then came the team. Ahsoka hit the ground first and looked up to see Ghes falling much faster than he should be. She reached out in the force and slowed him down enough that he wouldn't kill himself on impact.

"oof!"

"You okay Ghes?"

"Not really, but I'll live."

He ripped the jump pack off his back and tossed it into the brush.

"Republic issue piece of shit, jets never even fired. Thanks for the save there."

"No problem, but try not to embarrass yourself anymore."

"You're one to talk…."

He stopped as the rebels appeared suddenly riding some off the large quadrupeds used as beasts of burden on Onderon. The rebels, Rex, and Ghes pointed their blasters, unsure of what to make of each other. Seeing the potential for this to go wrong very quickly, Ahsoka jumped up onto a tree branch.

"I'm Commander Tano, we are here to assist you."

Their leader, a human woman, rode forward.

"I am Steela Gerrera, follow us."

…

Upon reaching the rebel base, they hit a bit of a snag.

"Drop your weapon, Mando!"

"Lux what are you doing, he's with us!"

"He's a Mandalorian!"

Ahsoka had been afraid of this, Ghes had worn his set of traditional Mandalorian armor, as a way of limiting the chance that they'd be linked to the Republic if seen. Unfortunately, Lux Bonteri had had an unpleasant experience with the Death Watch last time Ahsoka had seen him.

"Lux…."

Ghes interrupted.

"You have a problem with me Bonteri?"

"Ghes, don't…"

"Why wouldn't I, you're Mandalorian!"

"So?"

"So you must with the Death Watch! They sent you here to kill me, didn't they?!"

"Lux, he's not…"

Enraged, Ghes dropped his blaster and stepped up to Lux, attempting to intimidate the smaller man. He'd explained to her once why he hated the Death Watch so much, apparently his clan had been on the other side of a civil war fought between them and another faction of Mandalorians, a civil war that hadn't ended well for either side.

"Say that again."

"You're with…."

Lux was on the ground, unconscious, Ghes standing over him, before he finished that sentence. The rest of the rebels didn't take kindly to this, encircling Ghes and demanding his surrender, something which clearly wasn't going to happen.

Luckily, Anakin and Obi Wan stepped in.

"This is Colonel Marczak, he is an officer in the Grand Army and he is with us."

"Yes, please lower your weapons, I can assure you he means you no harm. Right Colonel?"

Ghes backed down a little, lowering the blaster he'd taken from Lux.

"Yea, as long as no one else has a problem with me being _mando'ade_?"

The rebels surrounding him shook their heads as they lowered their weapons and backed away from him.

"Good, now we can get down to business…."

After Rex had taken a group back to the drop site to retrieve their supplies, Ahsoka took Ghes aside. She understood that Lux had been out of line accusing him like that, but he didn't need to fly off the handle either.

"What were you thinking?!"

"I was thinking that snotty little bastard needed to be taught a lesson."

"So you nearly killed him!"

"Please, I barely tapped him. The kid's obviously never been in a real fight."

"You can't do things like that, not if you want these people to trust us."

"Do you want me to apologize?"

"He is my friend."

"Didn't he almost get you killed?"

"Sort of, but he also saved my life."

"How's that, by bringing you to the Death Watch? You could have been killed on site!"

"But I wasn't, because Lux…. Pretended I was his betrothed."

That did it, she saw the change in his eyes as he went from aggravation to outright rage.

"I'm gonna kill him."

"Come on Ghes, it was to save my life, you can't kill him for that."

"Doesn't matter, it was his fault you were in danger."

Ahsoka blocked his path as he tried to stalk off, taking his hands in hers and looking him in the eyes. This was clearly about more than Lux putting her in danger.

"Listen to me, he's just a friend, no more. I'm with you and that's it."

"You better hope he understands it that way."

She looked over to were Lux had been revived and was being treated by the woman they'd met earlier, Steela.

"I'm pretty sure he does."

…

The rebels were learning fast, quickly picking up the techniques being taught to them, but whether or not that their enthusiasm would hold up under combat conditions was yet to be seen. While Anakin and Rex had been focusing on teaching strategies for taking down different types of droids and vehicles, Ghes had been working on getting them to understand concepts of guerilla warfare. The trouble was, he was trying to teach battlefield strategy to disgruntled farmers and day laborers, so he'd had to start with the basics.

"The key to an ambush is choosing a position that limits the enemy's options as far as escape routes, as well as maximizes the kill zone. Canyons and alleys are best, but any terrain can suffice if you're clever enough."

The lesson was suddenly interrupted by a barrage of blaster fire which erupted from the forest.

"Droids!"

A droid patrol had located the rebel base and was launching an attack on the front of the compound. Anakin and Obi wan were attempting to deflect their fire as best they could, but were in imminent danger of being overwhelmed. Ghes and Ahsoka rushed over to assist, taking cover behind a low wall that formed the perimeter of the compound.

"How many?"

"Not sure, but it has to be at least a company."

"Any armor?"

Ghes got his answer when the building next to them was demolished by laser cannon fire.

"Apparently."

"We'll have to pull back."

"Agreed. Saw, pull your people back, we'll cover you."

"No, this is what you're training us for, let us fight."

Saw Gerrera, Steela's brother, Lux, and a group of rebels ran to retrieve their weapons. They wiped out the attacking droids with explosives before the tank and its support moved in. While the rest of the rebels engaged the infantry, Lux and Saw engaged the tank with EMP grenades like Rex had instructed them. Saw attacked the drivers hatch while Lux attacked the turret, tossing the grenades inside and disabling the tank. The rebels cheered at what was their first victory over the droids.

"I guess their good for something after all."

"Indeed Colonel, it appears we underestimated them."

…

"This is a stupid plan."

"It's the only plan we have."

" _I_ don't need a tank to get in there."

"But _they_ do, the point is for them to do it."

"We're still gonna end up saving their asses."

"Of course, but it doesn't mean we can't let them try."

Ahsoka and Ghes were perched on a roof overlooking the street where they'd set their ambush. With any luck they'd piss off the Seps enough to send in a tank, which they would then capture and use for their assault on Iziz's main power grid.

"Let's just hope I can hit something with this shit rifle."

"I thought you were an expert marksman, Ghes."

"With a properly calibrated rifle, but this…."

He was interrupted by the sound of blaster fire as the ambush on the droid patrol started. The B-1's that made up the patrol were quickly overwhelmed, but not before they were able to call for reinforcements, which arrived swiftly in the form of two droideka. That was a setback.

"Shit, those aren't tanks."

"They've prepared for this, don't worry."

Lux, Steela, and Saw managed to dispatch the Droideka with grenades, rolling them through the droids' shields. The next wave of reinforcements brought what they'd been waiting for, an assault tank.

"Their it is. Want me to take out the droids?"

"No, Steela has them."

True to Ahsoka's word, Steela quickly eliminated the droid infantry, allowing Lux and Saw to seize the tank.

"Good, now it's our turn."

They stood up and ran across the rooftops towards the power station. Climbing down to street level, they stopped across from where most off the guards were stationed.

"Here."

Ghes pulled a plaster pistol off his belt and held it out to Ahsoka.

"No lightsabers."

She nodded, taking the pistol.

"Ready? Three, two, one, go!"

They broke cover, opening fire on the droids, attempting to draw most of them away from the power station. As they fled down the side streets, far fewer off their pursuers were falling to the pair's blaster fire than Ahsoka would have liked. Ghes to seemed frustrated.

"Damn it, I'm not hitting shit with this thing!"

"I noticed. Quick, duck in here."

She led him down an alley too narrow for the droids to follow, easily dodging the blaster bolts that made up their pursuers last ditch effort to stop them. Soon after, a distant explosion was felt as the city went dark, a clear indicator of the rebels' success. Ahsoka and Ghes took advantage of the power outage in order to make their way back to the

…

Later that night, the rebels celebrated what was their first real victory over the Separatist forces by choosing a leader, Steela. Ahsoka thought they made a good choice, so did Anakin and Obi Wan, who'd appeared via hologram to check on their progress. After the celebration, Ghes and Ahsoka lay in bed.

"They did good today."

"Better than you expected?"

"Yea."

"And Lux?"

"He didn't die, so I guess he's not as useless as I thought."

"He's a good guy, just a bit idealistic."

"Ms. Gerrera seems to agree with you on that. They made a good choice electing her leader."

"You think so?"

"Yea. This is going to get a lot harder, now that they've proven they're a threat."

"I'm sure they can handle it, and we'll still be here…"

"We're supposed to be _advisors_ , Ahsoka. Distracting a few droids is one thing, no one got a good look at us, but how much farther can we really push it?"

"I know, it's just hard to stand on the sidelines."

"And I get that it is, but when it comes down to it, you're the one person that they can't be allowed to identify."

"What about you?"

"I'm GAR, you're a Jedi. I can be disavowed and listed as AWOL, you can't."

….

Ahsoka looked on as Steela's plan to rescue her brother and Onderon's former king, Denup, during their planned public execution was quickly falling apart. They'd halted the execution, a small team storming the platform on which it was being held, but the Seps had been waiting, and they were quickly surrounded by supers and destroyers. Now the stood as a captive audience

"How do you want to play this?"

Ghes discreetly readied his rifle under his cloak, waiting for her response. She didn't know what to do. Her and Ghes could probably take the droids, but they'd have to worry about the rebels, the prisoners, and any civilians that were caught in the crossfire. On top of that, there was no way she could do this without using the Force or her lightsabers, not exactly low profile.

"Ahsoka?!"

She opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by a sudden change of fortune. Onderonian soldiers rushed out onto the stage, taking the King Rash hostage and freeing the prisoners. The soldiers escorted the rebels off the stage and out of the square, leaving their leader, General Tandin, holding his weapon to Rash's neck.

Ghes turned to walk away, but Ahsoka remained, causing him to turn back and gesture at her to follow.

"Come on, we're done here."

"No, we can't leave him."

"Why the hell not?"

"He put himself on the line for us, that should mean something."

"Yea, it means we get to walk away."

Instead of responding, Ahsoka started pushing through the crowd. Ghes quickly followed, albeit while grumbling under his breath about how bad an idea this was. They made it to the front just as the droids raised their various blaster-armed appendages to execute then rebellious general. Ghes fired, taking out one of the supers, drawing their attention to him. Taking advantage of the distraction, Ahsoka leaped over the droids, landing behind them and knocking them down with the force. She grabbed the surprised Tandin, pulling him along with her as she ran into the crowd. Ghes followed, continuing to fire at the recovering droids until the crowd rushed the confused war machines.

When Ghes caught up with Ahsoka back at the rebel safe house, he clearly wasn't happy, pulling her aside.

"What the hell, Ahsoka?!"

"Don't give me that, it wasn't right to leave General Tandin to die after he helped us."

"I know, but our cover's blown, the Seps know we're involved. That's going to open up a lot of options for whatever tin can is in charge of this shit show."

Ahsoka knew he was right; the Separatists would be willing to use more resources against a Republic-backed force, especially now that they knew a Jedi was involved.

"I'll tell Anakin and Obi-Wan tonight, maybe now that this is all out in the open, we can get some more resources to."

"Not gonna happen."

"And how do you know that?"

"Because the Jedi Council's running this one, so we're about as likely to get reinforced as Tatooine is to get rain."

…

"Incoming!"

Ghes pulled further back behind the stone pillar he and Ahsoka were sheltering themselves behind as another barrage of missiles impacted against the rocks. The battle between Separatist forces and the Onderonian rebels that had been raging since the morning had taken a turn for the worse when enemy air support had arrived in the form of HMP gunships, a weapon to which they currently had no countermeasure. As casualties mounted, Ahsoka once again tried get the Republic to send reinforcements.

"It's a full scale war down here, isn't there anything you can send?!"

"Not as long as this remains an internal affair of Onderon. The Council believes sending in gunships will create more problems than it will solve."

Ghes, shell shocked and more than a little pissed, broke into the conversation.

"Well it looks like the Seps don't see it that way, General, so how the hell do you want us to handle this?!"

"Do you no longer believe the rebels capable of succeeding, Colonel?"

"Not without heavy ordinance. So, unless Commander Tano is hiding a triple-A battery somewhere…."

Ahsoka shot him a dirty look, unwilling to give up on their mission just yet.

"They can hold on for a little longer, but there has to something you can do."

"We'll explore other options, but if defeat appears certain I need you two to get out of there."

"Understood."

The holocom cut out and Ahsoka tossed it aside, frustrated by the no-win situation they found themselves in. Ghes seemed equally frustrated.

"How would we get out of here anyway, we don't have a ship?"

Steela and Lux suddenly appeared, eager to hear whether or not Ahsoka had had any luck getting help.

"Is the Republic sending help?"

"No, not as long as King Rash rules Onderan."

Their luck changed several hours later, when a strange ship showed up at the rebel base. As the freighter landed, Steela, Lux, Ahsoka, and Ghes rushed out to meet it. They arrived to find Weequay unloading crates, of what they didn't know, and the pirate Hondo Onaka.

"What do you want, Hondo?"

"You should be thanking me, child. I bring you a gift, from Skywalker."

He gestured to one of his men, who pulled the lid off of one of the crates, revealing a shipment of missile launchers.

"The latest from Sienar! Shoulder fired. Very expensive."

"Paid for?"

"Handsomely."

Unfortunately, a group of commando droids choose this moment to attack. The droids were defeated quickly, but the pirates had fled anyway, leaving them standing there with a crate of launchers. Ghes grabbed one of the weapons, inspecting it.

"RPS-6 shoulder-launched missiles, fully loaded and fully operational."

Ahsoka detected a hint of glee in his voice. Ghes loved weapons, it was one of the qualities he shared with most troopers.

"Then let's get these down to the fight."

With the launchers, the rebels were able to take down the gunships and push the droids back. One gunship made it through to the camp though, and Steela had rushed back to intercept it. She was able to destroy the aircraft and defeat the commando droids it had been carrying, but another had almost come down on top of her after being hit by a missile. The ground under her gave way as Ahsoka, Lux, and Ghes arrived. Lux dived to grab her as she held onto a ledge, but he ended up going over himself, only to be caught by Ahsoka. She lifted him to safety and tried to do the same thing with Steela. Their hands had almost met when Ahsoka felt something tear through her shoulder and her vision went black.

She woke up flat on her back, Ghes looking down at her.

"Easy, don't move."

"What happened?"

"Gunship had a little juice left in it, used it to try and take you out. You're lucky, at full power that cannon would have taken you're arm clean off."

"Steela! What happened to…"

Ghes looked over to the cliff we're she'd fallen and shook his head slowly. It didn't take her long to figure out what he meant, but she started to ask anyway.

"She's…."

"Dead."

…

It had been a stressful week for Ahsoka, with the bombing of the Jedi temple and the ensuing investigation. Now her and Ghes, recently returned from fighting in the mid-rim, were together again and trying to make sense of it all.

"I just don't get it Ghes, how someone can hate the Jedi so much."

"Come on Ahsoka, the order's arrogant, especially the Council, you at least have to admit that."

"Maybe, but we're not to blame for the war."

"No, warmongers is the last thing I'd call the Jedi. With the exception of you and Skywalker, most Jedi don't really seem to embrace their military role."

"Peacekeepers, that's what they always told us we'd be when I was growing up in the temple. Seems like a long time ago now."

"I know what you mean, it's hard to remember what life was like before the war."

"You'd know better than I would, the temple never changed much, no matter what was going on in the rest of the galaxy."

Their conversation was interrupted by Ahsoka's communicator.

"Commander Tano."

"Ahsoka, where are you?"

"Master. I'm… out."

"Out where?"

Ghes came up behind her and spoke into the device.

"Good Afternoon, General."

"Ah. Anyway, Tarkin called looking for you, Turmond wants to talk to you."

"About what?"

"She didn't say."

"Okay, I'll head over their right now."

She turned to Ghes.

"Looks like I have a date with a terrorist."

"Looks like. Give me a minute to put my armor on and I'll drive you."

She reached up and kissed him.

"Thank you."

…

The GAR detention facility was cold and gray, like every other military facility on the planet, the trooper on the other hand were warm and friendly as always, congratulating her on catching Turmond in the first place. Ghes had been distracted talking to some of the guards, so she entered the cell block on her own, checking her weapons and communicator with the guard captain. As she entered Turmond's cell she saw the human woman sitting on the bench/bed which occupied the far wall.

"Jedi."

"What do you want, Turmond."

"Only to tell you the truth."

"And what is that?"

"Surely you are not so blind as to see how corrupt your order has become. You're no longer peacekeepers, just weapons for a corrupt senate. Many believe this, even within the order."

"What are you getting at?"

"I'm just a puppet, and a Jedi has been pulling my strings."

"What!? Who?"

Before she could reveal the identity of her accomplice, Turmond began choking and rose into the air. Ahsoka tried to help, but to no avail.

"What's happening? Who's doing this?"

Turmond fell to the ground, dead. The cell door behind her opened to reveal troopers with their rifles trained on her.

"Commander Tano, you are under arrest for murder of an unarmed prisoner in Republic custody."

"I didn't do it; you're making a mistake!"

Ghes came running down the passageway.

"What's going on here, Commander!?"

"Commander Tano killed Turmond, sir, we're taking her into custody."

"Like hell you are! What's going on, Ahsoka?"

"I'm being framed Ghes, someone else orchestrated the bombing, a Jedi. Turmond knew who it was but she died before she could tell me."

"We'll figure it out, don't worry. Commander, release her now."

"But, sir…."

"I'm the ranking officer here, so do it."

Another voice came from farther down the corridor.

"Not so fast, Colonel."

"Tarkin. What are you doing here?"

"The prisoner Ms. Tano just murdered was in my custody, so it's my responsibility to arrest her."

"She didn't do it Tarkin, if you listened to something other than your own voice for once you'd know that."

"The evidence is quite to the contrary."

He held up a hologram showing what appeared to be Ahsoka choking Turmond with the force. Ghes looked to her for an explanation.

"I was trying to help her!"

"Indeed. Commander, put her in an isolation cell, and escort the Colonel out of my facility."

"This isn't over Tarkin."

"Believe me, Colonel, it is."

Later, outside the compound, Anakin arrived and saw Ghes pacing back and forth, talking into his com-link.

"Colonel! What happened?"

"They think she killed Turmond, and they have evidence to back it up."

"What kind of evidence?"

"Security footage, no audio, but it looks bad."

"Have you seen her?"

"Not since they took her in, Tarkin doesn't want anyone seeing her."

"Damn."

….

Ahsoka looked through the force field containing her and saw a keycard on the ground. She smiled, wondering whether it was Anakin or Ghes who'd planted it there. She used the force to lift the card and deactivate the field. Entering the hall, she noticed the bodies of the guards strewn about, many with lightsaber wounds. Before she could recover from the shock of this, she saw Commander Wolf at the far end of the corridor, reaching for the alarm.

"Shit."

…..

She'd really messed up this time, and she had no idea how she was going to get out of it. It had been a day since she'd been recaptured after being knocked out during her encounter with the hooded figure she assumed was Ventress, and since then she'd been booted out of the Jedi Order and put on trial as a terrorist. No one believed that she didn't do it except Anakin and Ghes, but they weren't too happy with her either.

"You should've contacted me, I could've gotten you off world, they never would have caught you."

"I didn't want to get you in trouble. Besides, what would that have helped? I'd still be a fugitive, I had to try and clear my name."

"Fat lot of good that did."

"Marczak's right Ahsoka, if anything you gave them more evidence against you."

"What's it matter? They've already expelled me from the order, what's there left for me to lose."

"Don't talk like that, you still got me, and we're not going to stop till we've cleared your name. Right Skywalker?"

"Right. Listen Ahsoka, Padme's agreed to represent you, so she'll at least buy us time. Is there anything you found that we can work off of?"

"Ventress, she attacked me in that warehouse, she has to be behind this."

The two nodded and turned to leave, Anakin leaving immediately, Ghes coming back to hug her and offer a few final words of encouragement.

"Don't worry Ahsoka, we'll find her, no matter what it takes."

Ghes caught up with Anakin as he was leaving the facility, beginning go over the details of what they knew about what happened in the warehouse, and where they should start their search for Ventress. Skywalker remained silent until the two reached the landspeeder he'd arrived in.

"I don't want or need your help Marczak, stay here and wait with Ahsoka."

"No."

"That wasn't a question."

The two stood there silent for a moment. Anakin had been openly hostile to Ghes for a long time, but this was the last straw. The woman he loved was in trouble, and no one, not even the mighty General Skywalker, was going to stop him from doing whatever he could to save her.

"What's your problem with me, Skywalker? I'm trying to help Ahsoka, same as you."

"No, not the same as me. I'm her master, I'm responsible for anything that happens to her, I'm the one who's supposed to protect her."

"And what am I?"

"A mistake."

"Really? I'm glad you think so lowly of Ahsoka's judgement…"

"Not her mistake, mine. I trusted you to watch out for her, to teach her, but instead you used her."

"You son of a…"

Ghes's words were lost in his own scream of rage as he rushed Anakin, attempting to wrap his hands around the Jedi's neck. Skywalker sidestepped, letting Ghes hit the speeder, holding him against it while pinning his left arm behind his back. Eventually, Ghes regained enough control of his voice to speak clearly.

"I love her!... I'd do anything for her. If she asked me, right now, to help her escape, I would. I'd fight the whole damn Republic just to keep her safe. I don't care if you hate me, but don't you for a minute think that I'd _ever_ do anything to hurt Ahsoka."

Anakin released the man, who at this point had tears rolling down his face, and thought back to times he'd been willing to do things for Padme that seemed stupid. If Ghes really felt the same way about Ahsoka…, maybe they didn't have to hate each other. He jumped into the speeder's cockpit and turned to Ghes, still wiping away the evidence of his outburst.

"Get in."

For a former Sith agent, Ventress was remarkably easy to find. Unfortunately, she also attempted to flee as soon as she noticed Anakin and Ghes approaching. After a lengthy chase, Anakin subdued the Dathomiri woman just in time for Ghes to catch up with them.

"It's over Ventress, just confess."

"Oh, but Skywalker, I have nothing to confess to."

She looked over at Ghes, currently leaned up against a post, attempting to catch his breath.

"Who's this?"

"This is Colonel Marczak. He also has a vested interest in your confession."

Ventress smirked, apparently amused by Ghes's presence.

"Ah, so the rumors about Tano's toy soldier are true."

Angered, he made to attack the woman, but Skywalker stopped him. Ghes scowled.

"You're lucky we need you or I'd bust your skull for that comment, bitch."

"A bit touchy aren't we? Anyway, I don't see what you need me for."

"You attacked Ahsoka, framed her for the bombing. Why?"

"I didn't do any of those things. I was trying to help her find what she was looking for."

"And why would you do that?"

"We have a lot in common, me betrayed by my master and her betrayed by your order. I felt pity for her. I was jumped outside that warehouse, when I woke up my lightsabers were gone and the place was on fire."

"Assuming you're telling the truth, who could it have been then?"

"She contacted someone before we were attacked, a Jedi, Bariss Offee, she told Ahsoka about the warehouse."

…

The young Mirialan opened the door to her quarters to admit Anakin and Ghes. She bowed.

"Master Skywalker."

"Barriss. You know Col. Marczak?"

"Yes, Ahsoka's…. friend. What brings you here?"

"Why didn't you tell anyone Ahsoka contacted you while she was on the run?"

"Who told you she did?"

Anakin picked up Barriss's lightsaber sitting on the table and inspected it.

"Ventress."

"And you believed her?"

Anakin suddenly whirled around, igniting the lightsaber in his hand and swinging it at her head. She summoned lightsabers belonging to Ventress to her hands and deflected the blow. Ghes drew his blaster, but she quickly slashed him across the chest and force pushed him back into a wall. Anakin continued his assault.

"How could you betray Ahsoka's trust, Barriss, she was your friend."

"Trust? I find trust is sorely overrated Skywalker. The Jedi have become an order of violence, not piece, and they must be sto…."

She collapsed as a stun bolt hit her in the lower back. Anakin looked over to see Ghes on the ground up against the wall with his blaster in his hand.

"Huh, so that's what it takes to shut her up."

…

They'd dragged Offee into the court room and made her confess just in time. Ahsoka was cleared of all charges and even offered readmission to the order. She turned it down, much to Anakin's lament. Now she was in Ghes's apartment, crying in his arms as she tried to work out what to do with the shattered remains of her life.

"Shh, shh... It's going to be fine."

"I'm out of the order, out of the army, what am I supposed to do now?"

"Well, you still got me, don't you?"

"Yea."

"Then you have nothing to worry about."

"You going to take care of me, Ghes?"

"If that's what you want, but I was thinking of something a little different."

"What's that?"

"You wanna get married?"

She laughed, at first thinking he was joking. Then she looked up at his face.

"Seriously Ahsoka."

They sat in silence for a good few minutes before Ahsoka finally answered.

"Yes."

A big grin spread across his face as he pulled her in closer.

"Repeat after me; Mhi solus tome."

"Mhi solus tome."

"Mhi solus dar'tome."

"Mhi solus dar'tome."

"Mhi me'dinui an."

"Mhi me'dinui an."

"Mhi ba'juri verde."

"Mhi ba'juri verde."

"And that's it."

"Simple."

"Necessity of a warrior culture."

"What did we just say?"

"We are one when together, We are one when parted, We share all, We will raise warriors."

"Oh."

Ghes realized something he'd never considered before that moment.

"I'm sorry, I should've left that last part out, I didn't think…"

"No, no, it's fine. It's just… I know how big a deal that is for Mandalorians"

"Ahsoka, look at me. I love you, way more than I care about that, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

…

Ghes's leave ended the next day. He tried to put it off, but he'd already had to pull a lot of strings to stay as long as he had, and Ahsoka had decided to leave with him. She looked out the viewport as _Retaliation_ slowly lifted away from its landing pad, rising above the space scrapers of Galactic city. Ghes came from behind and put his arms around her.

"It feels different this time."

"What does?"

"Leaving."

"What's different?"

"I don't know; it might be that there's nothing here for me anymore. The Temple was my home, but now, my only home is with you."

…

"Ready? Go, go, go!"

They rushed across the street under heavy fire from the droids behind their ramshackle barricades. The narrow streets of the Cato Neimoidian bridge cities had made for slow going for Republic forces attempting to conquer the Separatist stronghold. The battle was close enough that Ghes's battalion had been thrown in to the battle as line infantry in an attempt to tip the balance.

"What's the situation?"

"E-Web, dwarf spider, and a B1 platoon."

"Shit. Vore, take your squad around the flank, I'll take the front."

"On it."

Vore and his men went off as Ghes and Ahsoka worked their way closer to the droid position.

"So, is there a plan here?"

"Throw me."

"What? Seriously?"

"Yea."

Ghes pulled a thermal detonator off his belt and she flung him toward the barricade before following herself. He rolled as he hit the ground, tossing the detonator toward the spider droid as he came up. Ahsoka came down in front of him, lightsaber and blaster in hand, as the droids turned to engage the new threat. She beat back their fire as Ghes fired his rifle over her shoulder.

"Anytime now Vore!"

"Never fear Colonel, cavalry's on its way."

Blasterfire erupted from the second story of one of the buildings the barricade was nestled between, quickly cutting down the remaining droids.

"See hon, not so bad, is it? Just another forty klicks to go."

…

The beeping of the comlink shook her from her sleep. Lazily, she reached for the device on the nightstand.

"Hello?"

"Ahsoka, are you okay?"

For the first time she looked around and realized that Ghes wasn't in bed with her.

"What? Yea. Why?"

"Stay in the apartment, don't leave for any reason."

"What's going on Ghes?"

"The Chancellor's been attacked."

"By who?"

"The Council."

"No, it can't be."

"Skywalker managed to stop them, but it's not over. Palpatine issued Order 66."

"Oh gods."

"Stay were you are; I'm sending Vore over to keep an eye on you."

"Where are you going?"

"The Temple."

"Be careful."

…

The lower levels of the Jedi Temple were a maze of maintenance and access tunnels, most of which hadn't been used in centuries. It had taken hours for Ghes and his men to move into position for the assault.

"We're in position Colonel."

He took a deep breath before reporting in.

"General, infiltration team in position."

"Very well, Colonel, commence operation Knightfall. Leave no survivors."

They blew charges throughout the tunnel network and breached the Temple.

"Eyes up boys, won't take long for them to notice we're hear."

…

The two Temple guards futilely tried to drag themselves away from the attacking troopers. Ghes put a bolt into each of their heads before moving on to what the two were guarding, the Temple Vault. Slicer quickly broke the lock and the troopers forced open the door. They entered the room and beheld the millennia's worth of accumulated treasures of the Jedi.

"Impressive. Pack it up boys, this all belongs to the Chancellor now."

…

They'd worked their way up through the Temple far enough to link up with the rest of the 501st. The remaining Jedi were on their last legs after seeing their comrades cut down in droves by the invading troopers. General Skywalker lead the charge, striking down Jedi left and right. Ghes felt something different about him, something darker, but had little time to consider it.

One of the remaining Jedi lunged at Ghes, bringing his saber down over his head. Ghes took the blow on the shoulder pauldron, the blade getting caught up in the padded material, and shoved his rifle under the man's chin. After dispatching the Jedi, Ghes turned to see another almost disintegrated by a barrage of blaster fire. He was tackled from behind by a Rodian who tried, ineffectively, to shove his saber through Ghes's breastplate, slicing through his rifle in the process. He gutted the creature with his vibroblade, splattering its blood over his armor.

He stood, noticing the flow of battle had carried the fighting away from him. After a quick breath, he picked up the Rodian's lightsaber, ignited the blade, and rushed back into the fray.

…

Ahsoka sat nervously, staring out the window at the glow created by the burning temple. Vore sat by the door, rifle in hand. A knock startled him, prompting him to rush out of his chair and stack up on the door. Ahsoka reached out in the force and sensed who was waiting for them in the hall.

"Relax, Vore, just open the door."

"Are you sure ma'am?"

She nodded. Vore shrugged and unlocked the door, which opened to reveal Ghes in his bloodied, battle scarred armor.

"Honey, I'm home."

Ahsoka rushed into his arms and the two kissed deeply. After breaking the kiss, Ghes turned to Vore.

"You're dismissed lieutenant. Thank you."

"No thanks necessary, Colonel."

After the trooper left, the two went to the bedroom and Ghes began to remove his armor.

"I still can't believe this mess we're in. How'd it come to this?"

"I don't know, Ahsoka, I just don't know."

"Did you see Anakin?"

"He led the assault."

"How's he doing?"

"We didn't talk, but something seemed off about him."

"Like what?"

"The dark side, like what was inside me, but different. It has to have something to do with Palpatine."

"Do you mean…."

"He's the Sith lord."

A sullen mood fell over the two at this realization. After several minutes of silence, they spoke once again.

"We have to do something."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, but we can't just let this happen."

"It already has, Skywalker's fallen, the Jedi are gone, and the Republic's probably thru as well."

"What do you mean, thru?"

"Palpatine called an emergency session of the Senate for tomorrow morning. Any moves he has left; he'll make them then."

"So that's it then?"

"I guess it is. But is that really such a bad thing?"

"What?"

"Think about it, after everything that's happened, we're still fine and the war is all but won, who cares about the Jedi, or the Sith for that matter."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that, whatever this new order is, we can make the best of it together."

He took her hands in his and stared into her eyes.

"Come on, what do you say? Screw the Jedi, screw the Sith, whoever's on top, as long as we're together, they can't touch us."


	3. Part III

Part III- Soldiers of the Empire

The dark figure of Lord Vader stood imposingly on the bridge of _Exactor_ , staring off at the surrounding ships of the new Imperial star fleet. Approaching this in intimidating cybernetic enforcer of the Emperor's will who had once been a man he'd known was one of the most difficult things Col. Marczak had ever done. Nevertheless, he quickly crossed the walkway in between the crew pits. Without turning around, Vader addressed the him.

"Colonel."

"Lord Vader, you summoned me."

"With the death of Skywalker, the 501st is in need a new commanding officer. I've chosen you for the position."

"Thank you, my lord."

He prepared to leave, but he felt Vader's invisible grasp holding him in place.

"There is something else."

"Is there?"

"The matter of Ahsoka Tano."

Marczak's heart jumped into his throat at the mention of his wife, Vader's apprentice before she was booted from the order. He'd dreaded this moment every day since Order 66 and the beginning of the Jedi Purge.

"Yes?"

"The Emperor is unaware of her survival; I cannot ensure you it will remain that way."

"I assure you, Lord Vader, we are both loyal to the Empire."

"Of course, but it is unlikely this will matter to the Emperor. It is possible for me to provide protection, however limited."

Vader paused to allow this to sink in, Marczak quickly caught on to his implication.

"Do you intend to overthrow him?"

"It is the way of the Sith, for the apprentice to overthrow the master."

"Then the 501st will be behind you."

"You may go, General."

…

Marczak returned to his suite to find Ahsoka waiting for him. He removed the uncomfortable officer's uniform he'd seldom worn during the war as she began speaking.

"How'd it go?"

"Lord Vader graciously offered me command of his personal legion, which I of course accepted."

"That's it?"

"He also informed me that he was the only thing standing between us and the Emperor's wrath, so long as me and my men are loyal to him."

"He's really gone then."

Tears rolled down her face as it fully hit her, Anakin Skywalker, hero of the Republic and the Jedi order, as well as her teacher and close friend, was now a dark lord of the Sith. Marczak sat down next to her and pulled her close to comfort her.

"I know it's hard to accept Ahsoka, but whatever was left of the Anakin you knew died on Mustafar, even during the assault on the Temple, I could tell just by being near him that he was too far gone."

"How could this have happened, the last time I saw him, he was so happy. He came to see me, said that Padme was pregnant, he was going to be a father. What could have happened to make him throw all that away?"

"Padme's dead, Ahsoka, I found out this morning."

"What? How?"

"It wasn't listed; all I know is she died sometime around Order 66."

"And the baby?"

"Died with her."

They sat there for a long while after that, unwilling to continue such a depressing conversation. Ahsoka finally broke the silence.

"We could run away, you know, with your contacts it would take them years to find us."

"I don't want to live on the run Ahsoka, and neither do you."

"Maybe not, Ghes, but is this really much better? Surrounded by the Emperor's agents and your fellow 'officers', most of whom are plotting against you and each other as we speak?"

"The army is all I've ever known, and I can deal with a few petty schemers. Besides, who's going to be able to stab me in the back with you watching it?"

She laughed.

"So I'm still going to have to save your ass as always?"

"Would you really want it any other way?"

…..

Ahsoka wasn't happy with this. She liked Wookiees, they'd saved her life after all, and the idea of having to kill them made her sick to her stomach. Ghes, on the other hand, seemed far less disturbed by this, but it was so hard to tell with him. Either way, this was happening and there was no way to avoid it, at least not one that wouldn't get them both executed as traitors.

"Reports coming in General, first wave's been wiped out, second wave's taking heavy casualties."

"Looks like somebody's been raiding the toy chest we left here at the end of the war. All units be advised: Kashyyyk forces have heavy equipment, proceed with caution."

"Lord Vader has authorized orbital bombardment."

"Looks like Appo managed to talk some sense into him, probably the only thing that's going to go right today."

Ahsoka stood slightly behind Ghes in the troop bay of the LAAT/i gunship, still cramped despite only being occupied by Ghes's command staff and five troopers. She'd gotten used to this, keeping off to the side so as to avoid attention, she'd even begun dressing like the ever increasing number force-sensitive agents deployed by the Emperor to further discourage questioning of her presence. It was effective. Ghes turned to her as red light illuminated the bay.

"You sure you can do this?"

"No, but I'm not letting you go alone."

"Stay behind me, let the troopers do the fighting, this doesn't have to be on your conscience."

She nodded.

A few minutes later the gunship hit the ground and the doors opened, allowing the occupants to rush for cover. One of the officers took a bolt to the chest almost immediately, not a surprise considering how much they stood out from the white armored troopers. But then again, Ahsoka thought as she dodged incoming fire, she didn't exactly blend in either. They crossed the open ground separating them from the shell crater currently serving as the command post for the assault on the city of Okikuti.

"General, sirs, Lady Tano."

"Captain. What's the situation?"

"We're pinned bad. Walking carpets scraped together some heavy fire power from what was left of the sep forces, and they've got smugglers providing air support, something we seem to have in short supply."

" _Exactor_ 's moving into position for bombardment, all we've got to do is hold them here then mop up what's left."

"Right flank's on the verge of collapse, General. Wookiees'll break through if it's not shored up."

"I'll handle it. Sergeant, you're with me. Captain, keep the major and my staff here."

"Aye, General."

"Wait, sir, this is highly unorthodox…."

"And don't let him give any orders."

They reached the problem area just as the troopers were beginning to fall back. Wookies were swarming over Imperial lines, engaging the clearly overmatched troopers hand to hand. Ghes ran into the fray, firing his rifle as he went. He climbed up onto the corpse of a fallen Wookie and fired several rounds into the air.

"Rally on me boys! For the Empire!"

Ahsoka smirked as she jumped over to Ghes and the troopers began to reform around him. She deflected fire back into nothing. They began pushing the Wookiees back as turbolaser fire rained down on Okikuti in the distance. Seeing the destruction of their homes behind them, the remaining Wookiees started going berserk, ignoring blaster wounds as they charged into the troopers, blind with rage. Ghes was grappling with one and had been knocked to the ground. Ahsoka reacted without thinking as the beast raised its weapon to finish him off, and suddenly found her blades plunged into the Wookiee's back. The shrieks of pain which escaped the creature's mouth left her nauseated and her gut wrenching as she realized what she'd done. She stood there as the troopers finished putting down the enraged Wookiees.

Back aboard _Exactor_ Ahsoka sat on the edge of the hanger deck, staring down through the ray shield into the void, ignoring suspicious looks from the flight crews and deck officer. She felt Ghes coming up behind, but made no move to acknowledge him. He sat down next to her and stayed silent for a few good minutes before speaking.

"I take it somethings bothering you?"

She didn't respond.

"It's that Wookie, isn't it?"

She remained silent.

"You've killed before, what's bothering you about this?"

"I killed during a war, for the Republic."

"And now we're killing for the Empire, I don't see the difference."

"What did the Wookiees do? Why were we there? Why did they need to die?"

"Jedi."

"What?"

"Survivors of Order 66, the Wookiees were sheltering them."

"What happened?"

"Vader."

She fell silent again.

"This is going to happen again, you know that, right?"

She nodded.

"Is this going to happen every time you have to kill someone?"

She didn't respond.

"You saved my life, again, can you at least be happy about that?"

Still silent, she shifted farther away.

"I'll give you some space then."

…...

Despite the battle going on around them, Ghes seemed more concerned with his armor then the enemy, but that wasn't much of an issue. Both him and Ahsoka had done little as the 501st's Stormtroopers had swept through Naboo's capital of Theed, devastating the pitiful forces of Naboo's royal security force.

"I mean, I like it…, but it feels different."

"It's probably the chestplate, it's just plastoid, not your _beskar_."

"Your right, I'm going to have to have a set forged."

"A whole set?"

"Why not? I've had plenty of _beskar_ plates lying around since Mandalore."

"Do what you want, but it's going to be expensive."

"Since when are you worried about money?"

"Since you started spending so much."

"What do you want? Imperial logistics is a lot stricter than the GAR ever was."

They were interrupted by an officer's voice over the comlink.

"Sir, the Palace defenses are down."

"Good, I'm on my way."

Ghes lead the charge thru the ornate halls of Theed's royal palace, pushing the few remaining guards further and further towards the throne room. Ahsoka, for her part, still wasn't actively participating in the fight. Until she heard a trooper yell the one thing she feared most.

"Jedi!"

The Imperial Security Bureau had suspected Queen Apailana was harboring fugitive Jedi, and that had been part of the justification for the assault, but Ahsoka had hoped it wasn't true. Those hopes were shattered by six figures charging down the corridor brandishing lightsabers.

They cut down the first few troopers as the rest started falling back, firing as they went. Two of the Jedi, obviously inexperienced, were shot down almost immediately, two more moved to engage Ghes, standing at the front of the formation. The leader saw Ahsoka and leapt at her, she ignited her sabers and met his blow.

"Traitor!"

She pushed him away and took a defensive posture.

"To what? A dead order, or a corrupt republic?"

He launched another flurry of blows before they locked saber again.

"So you side with the Sith?"

"No, I side with my family!"

"The Jedi were your family!"

She kicked out one of his legs, spinning him around and putting her sabers at his neck.

"The Jedi tossed me aside, that's not family."

His head rolled to the floor and his body, neck smoking, collapsed into a heap.

She looked over and saw the remaining Jedi had been defeated by the troopers, with Ghes standing over one who appeared to be a knight holding a lightsaber she didn't recognize.

"You okay?"

"Yea, you?"

"Yea. Lieutenant! Where's the queen?"

"Escaped out a side entrance, troopers are engaging her and her Jedi bodyguard."

Ghes stepped away and pulled up his comlink.

"Marczak to sniper team."

"General?"

"Do you have visual on target?"

"Affirmative."

"Take the shot."

After a brief pause, the sniper responded

"Target eliminated."

Ahsoka and Ghes stood on a balcony overlooking Theed from the upper levels of the palace, the fires caused by the battle illuminating the skyline in the night.

"How do you feel?"

"About what?"

"The Jedi, whatever his name was, you don't seem to torn up about him."

"That's what worries me, I should be torn up about it, but I'm not."

"I don't see the issue."

"I don't know what it is, let's just drop it."

She looked down and saw the lightsaber he'd been holding before on his belt, weird because she'd seen the lightsabers belonging to the Jedi packed away. She also needed a distraction.

"How long have you had that?"

"What? This?"

He pulled the saber off his belt and spun it in his fingers.

"I've had this since Knightfall, it belonged to a Rodian."

"Why'd you keep it?"

"I don't know, I just grabbed it during the battle and started using it. I guess I'm a bit sentimental, because I never turned it in."

"How's it handle?"

"Fine, a bit light for my taste. So, why are you trying to get me off track?"

"Because I killed a Jedi, and I don't feel anything. Why don't I feel anything?!"

"You don't feel anything because you didn't do anything wrong."

"Of course I did something wrong."

"What? What did you do wrong? So you killed a Jedi, big deal, I've killed plenty since Order 66, I'll probably kill plenty more. We're not bad people Ahsoka, we're warriors, we fight because that's what we were born to do."

"It's who we're fighting for that bothers me. Vader, Palpatine, they're Sith, evil, and we're their thugs."

"And if we deserted, if we left the Empire? What could we do? This may not be preferable, but the galaxy is at peace, and I'm damn sure we can do more good from inside the system than outside fighting against it."

"Can we really keep justifying this, invading any world that dares to defy Palpatine?"

"We justified doing the same thing for the Republic during the war, that was in the name of peace and so is this. Whatever you want to say about Palpatine, or Vader, or anyone else in the Empire, at least the war ended, at least the galaxy isn't tearing itself apart."

"I know, I know. It's just hard, going from being a liberator to a conqueror."

"We were never liberators Ahsoka, no matter what we told ourselves."

….

"Have you made contact?"

"No, and if I keep having to answer you I'm probably not going to!"

"Sheesh, you don't have to bite my head off."

"Sorry, I'm just nervous. I don't know how I feel about this."

Ahsoka sat at a booth in one of the many seedy bars that dotted the worst parts of heavily industrialized Axum. Despite the planet's mainly human population, non-humans still existed in abundance in places such as this dark, dank place, making it the perfect location for what they had planned.

"She contacted you, that means she trusts you, this will probably be the best chance we get to capture her alive."

"Are you sure your men are up to this?"

"They'd better be, otherwise the Emperor wasted a lot of credits training them."

The troops waiting in hiding with Ghes, ready to ambush their guest, were from a new special unit, the Storm Commandos. The brain child of some Moff looking for a better way to deal with insurgents, they'd been drawn from the best Stormtroopers and given advanced training rivaling that of Imperial Commandos. The 501st being under direct command of Lord Vader meant one of the first units had been sent to them.

After another twenty minutes of waiting, as well as shooing away the bars drunken patrons, Ahsoka finally saw who she'd been waiting for.

"I have Unduli in my sites, making contact."

"Affirmative, strike team standing by"

Ahsoka waved to the Mirialan woman, beckoning her to sit down.

"Master Luminara, I'm relieved to see you alive."

"As am I you, Ahsoka, it took quite a bit of doing to track you down."

"How are you still alive, I thought all the Jedi were dead."

"I was separated from the men under my command at the time we were betrayed, I was able to avoid them and escape Kashyyyk, but I fear we are all that is left of the Order."

"You're all that's left, I haven't been a Jedi for a long time."

"Your expulsion from the Jedi Order was a tragic mistake, one I wish we had not made, but that is behind us now."

"What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to come with me, there are elements in the Outer Rim hostile to the Empire, we can join them, rebuild the Order, fight the Sith."

"I don't think that's going to work."

"What? What do you mean…."

The bar erupted into chaos as charges blew in the front entrance and three of the exterior walls, quickly followed by smoke and flash grenades as the commandos breached the structure. Many of the bar's patrons drew blasters, some of the more sober ones even managed to fie before they were cut down. Master Luminara leapt from the booth igniting her lightsaber and facing up against the encircling commandos.

"Stay behind me Ahsoka, it's me they're here for!"

Ghes stepped forward from the line of commandos, polished black armor reflecting the light of Unduli's blade.

"You're absolutely right. Jedi Master Luminara Unduli, on the authority of Lord Vader, you are under arrest for crimes against the Republic and the Empire."

"You'll never take me alive, Imperial dogs!"

"There's no use fighting, Jedi, you're surrounded and outnumbered ten to one."

"I think you'll find a Jedi master far more difficult to…"

She was cut short as her body went limp after being hit by Ahsoka's stun bolt. The commandos quickly bound the unconscious Jedi as Ghes smiled at Ahsoka under his helmet.

"Why do they always insist on ranting like that.?"

"You're not one to talk, 'on the authority of Lord Vader', 'crimes against the Empire', were you going to give her your operating number to?"

They brought Unduli outside where they loaded her into a transport along with the remaining bar patrons, no witnesses.

"Why did they want her alive?"

"Something about bating a trap for whatever Jedi are left, she probably won't live long."

He held up the doomed Jedi's lightsaber, offering it to Ahsoka.

"You want it?"

"What, are you collecting them now?"

"Seems like the respectful thing to do, the Jedi were warriors after all, makes sense to keep their weapons as mementos."

"You say that like you already have a collection."

"I've been trying to get my hands on captured sabers from Jedi I've killed, so, yea I have quite a few now."

"And when were you going to tell me this?"

"After I was pretty sure you wouldn't be pissed at me about it."

…

The Kaminoan weather, renowned for its nearly endless rainstorms had not failed to disappoint. Unsurprisingly, this did not seem to trouble the troopers, all of whom had grown up here. Fett was different. Though he had grown up on this world as well, his distaste for it was quite apparent, despite the fact that he projected nearly as little into the force as Ghes. It was clear that if he hadn't been very well paid, he would have avoided ever returning here.

While the weather didn't bother the troopers, their task here clearly did. It bothered Ghes to, though not for the same reason.

"You'd better know what you're doing Fett, I don't want to lose to many men on this."

"Don't tell me how to do my job, General, the Empire hired me because I know this facility. You just worry about the clones."

Fett aggravated Ghes, Ahsoka wasn't sure why, but she'd heard him grumbling under his breath about the bounty hunter being a pale imitation of his father, whatever that meant.

Ahsoka had been unsure about this mission as well, she'd only come because she was worried about Ghes being injured without her there to save his butt.

They came under fire soon after landing on the stilt city. Their assailants wore the Phase-1 armor that all GAR clones had during the first half of the war, clearly the Kaminoans had stashed away enough of the armor to equip an army, as well as the corresponding munitions. Fett flew off soon after they landed, leaving Ghes and the troopers to rush for the entrance to the facility. Upon reaching the facility, they hugged up against the wall.

"What are we waiting for?"

"Fett, bastard's supposed to disable the lock down."

"I'm sure he's on his way."

"He'd better be."

The door opened soon after, causing Ghes to mumble under his breath further. They burst into the entrance, Ahsoka deflecting fire for the advancing Stormtroopers. The anti-troopers fell back, unable to hold their ground against the onslaught off fire. Fett's voice came over the comlink.

"Marczak, I have the DNA sample."

"Get it back to the shuttle then."

"I need cover, the Kaminoans cooked up a new batch of ARC's."

"B company, break off and cover the bounty hunter."

"Aye, General."

B company broke off as Ghes and the remaining troopers continued their advance. They reached the first of the large open muster areas and ran into the ARC's Fett had been talking about.

"We're pinned down, General, these ARC's are packing heavy equipment!"

Ahsoka broke from cover and ran towards the dug in troopers.

"Don't worry boys, I'll handle this."

She jumped the last ten meters, landing behind the ARC's, who quickly turned to face her. Easily batting aside their initial volley, she lunged at the first one, taking out his legs, then quickly drove her sabre through another's chest, pulling his body in front of hers to absorb more fire. Another came behind her and fired at her head. She ducked the bolt, rolling away and coming up right next to him. She drove her elbow up under his chin, knocking off his helmet and forcing her to look him in the eye. She hesitated, giving the trooper an opening to knee her in the gut. Ahsoka fell, bent over by the force of the blow, the trooper leveled his rifle before catching a blaster blot in the head. Ghes vaulted over the barricade and bent down to hoist her up.

"Who's protecting who here?"

…

Ghes and Ahsoka stood on the Tipoca city landing platform, rain coming down around them, as they watched the 501st's victorious troopers load back into their landing craft.

"What happened back there?"

"I hesitated. It was his eyes, the same eyes they all have. I saw the fear on his face, knowing he was about to die, and I couldn't do it."

"I get it."

"Would you have hesitated?"

"Maybe, it's hard to look into a man's eyes while you kill him. I can't imagine what it would be like to know the man staring back at you."

"I'm glad their dead, the Kaminoans, they earned it for what they did to these men, making them fight their brothers."

"A quick death was more they deserved, if we'd taken them alive we could have really made them pay."

That line of thinking wasn't going to go anywhere good, so Ahsoka quickly changed the subject.

"What ever happened to Fett?"

"What do you think? He was payed, now he's gone, shouldn't expect anything else from a bounty hunter."  
"What's your issue with him?"

"My father fought for Jango before he met my mother, and my grandfather fought for Jaster Mereel when he created the True Mandalorians. I guess I just expected more from a clone son of the _Mand'alore_."

"You can't expect the kid to live up to his father, especially when he's been on his own for almost a decade."

"I guess not. It just bothers me that there hasn't been a _Mand'alor_ since Jango's death, not a legitimate one at least. Our people are shattered, and, as Jango's heir, he's the best choice for a figure head to rally around."

"Give it time. Talk to him in twenty years, he might be more amenable to the idea. Mandalore will wait."

"Under the Emperor's boot."

"You're the one who said we should stay."

"I know; I just get aggravated sometimes."

"We're biding our time, Palpatine won't live forever, especially not if Vader has anything to say about it."

…

Ghes and Ahsoka stood alone in Exactor's forward shuttle bay, neither happy with what was about to happen.

"I should've fought this."

"And what would that have done? You can't overrule him, especially on something like this."

"So I'm just supposed to let you go?"

"It's not like you have much of a choice."

Vader wanted Ahsoka to go undercover, but not exactly in the usual way. She would still be Ahsoka Tano, former Jedi, but she'd use the fact that almost no one outside the 501st knew where she'd been since the end of the Clone War to infiltrate whatever rebel network sought her out first, much in the same way they'd lured Master Luminara into a trap on Axum years ago. It was a solid plan, and it would more than likely succeed, but it would require her and Ghes to be apart for months, possibly years.

"I don't want to lose you."

"You could come with me, you know, we used to be pretty good at this sort of thing."

Ghes smirked.

"A Togruta Jedi and a Mando mercenary travelling together, that won't look suspicious. And there are still a few Death Watch operatives out there who'd recognize my family colors, and I feel like they'd still be looking to settle some old grudges, especially after we drove them out of Mandalore."

"And they won't recognize me?"

"You were just another _aruetiise_ with a lightsaber, to them I'm a traitor to whatever it is they think makes a Mandalorian. Besides, I think at this point it's pretty common knowledge among my old, associates, that I work for the Empire now."

Ghes was right, he'd made a different sort of a name for himself during the war than she had, especially with the seedy underbelly of the galaxy that she was about to dive into. Ahsoka, on the other hand, had never been introduced to any of the assorted scumbags whose services Ghes had used for more, clandestine, operations during the war.

"I know… it's just I'm worried about what'll happen to you with me not around."

"You're worried? I have to watch you walk into the serpents' den and you're worried about me. I almost lost you once, Ahsoka, I don't want to go through that again."

As Ghes began to tear up, Ahsoka put her arms around him and pulled him close.

"You won't lose me, I'll be back."

He choked back a few soft sobs before calming down enough to respond.

"It's a test, you know that, right?"

She did. Of course it was a test, Vader was seeing if she'd stay loyal to Ghes, and by extension the Empire, when presented with an easy way out.

"I'm not going to run off with some rebellion, I promise to come back to you."

He let go of her, wiping his eyes and attempting to smooth the front of his tunic as he put on a false smile.

"I'll spread the word that the Empire's on the hunt for a recently reemerged Jedi, one who'd be a particular threat to us if she wasn't apprehended, I figure that'll catch someone's interest."

She smiled back, then turned to board the confiscated spice freighter that Vader had provided for her to use. It was much like the one Anakin had owned and used toward the beginning of the war, she wondered if that was another ploy by Vader to try and get under her skin. A few minutes later, the freighter lifted of the deck and dove into cold blackness of space.

…

It hadn't taken long for someone to come looking for Ahsoka, an Alderanian, though whether or not that meant anything she had no idea. The man had said his employer was looking for someone he could trust to help coordinate between groups of people who weren't too happy with the Empire. Months later, she still had no idea who that employer was, but she really didn't want to. The mission was to find rebels, and she'd found them.

It was laughable, how quickly they'd trusted her with so much based solely on the fact that she'd been a Jedi, even though they had no idea what she'd been doing since the war ended. Ahsoka had quickly learned, though, these people were nothing like she'd expected them to be. What she'd expected were the kind of rebels she'd known on Onderon, idealistic freedom fighters working to overthrow an oppressive regime, but instead most of them were criminals, mercenaries, and ex-separatists scraped together more so for their violence and relative skill at arms then for any belief in what they were doing. Ghes was right, if this scum was the alternative, maybe the Empire wasn't so bad.

There were a few exceptions, and they were what was going to make the next part of this plan hard.

"Commander."

Sato's voice brought Ahsoka back into the moment. They were on the bridge of an old _Pelta_ -class frigate which served as the flagship of this little fleet they called Phoenix Squadron.

"What? Sorry, I was thinking of something else. What were we discussing?"

"The possibility of a mission to rescue Minister Tua."

"Yes. Hera, Kanan, you want to go ahead with this?"

"It's the right thing to do, and the information she can give us would be invaluable."

"Then I think I'll join you."

It was a trap. Not that Tua's desire to defect wasn't genuine, it was, but that was part of the plan to lure the crew of the _Ghost_ back to Lothal. It was their own fault, destroying _Sovereign_ like they did, Tarkin couldn't overlook the destruction of his flagship, and had demanded they die first. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

At least something good would come out of this, Vader would be on Lothal, and if he was there, Ghes would be to.

….…

The bridge of _Exactor_ was bustling with activity as the crew prepared for departure. Ghes entered the tactical control center at the rear of the bridge, where Lord Vader was waiting for him.

"You summoned me, Lord Vader."

"The Emperor desires us to end another rebellion."

"Where?"

"Lothal."

"Is that backwater really worth the effort, my Lord?"

"The Emperor has plans for Lothal, and this particular cell has embarrassed Governor Tarkin quite spectacularly."

"Really? I'm beginning to like these traitors."

"Do not let your personal squabbles with Tarkin interfere with your duty to the Empire. We believe this cell is tied to the larger network our spies have been tracking, their capture could spell the end of armed resistance to the Empire."

Ghes smiled, they only had one spy imbedded in this burgeoning rebellion.

"Then it shall be done my lord."

….

As far as the specters, as the crew of the _Ghost_ called themselves, were concerned, this mission gone downhill fast, Minister Tua was dead and their only method of escape had been shot down by an Imperial walker, leaving them scrambling to their nearest safe house. But for Ahsoka, this was all going according to plan.

"You guys go on, I'll catch up."

"What? We can't split up!"

Jarrus was right to be concerned, a Togruta, a Twi'lek, a Lasat, and a Mandalorian were conspicuous enough on their own, let alone in a group. To make matters worse, the troopers that had appeared after the destruction of Tua's shuttle were different than the normal garrison, they were better, as evidenced by the blaster wound in Zebb's shoulder and the rather spectacular failure that this rescue had been.

"Relax, I've been doing this sort of thing a lot longer than you have."

She ducked into an alleyway, then waited until the others were long gone before walking back into the open. As she rounded the corner, she found herself looking down the barrel of an E-11.

"Don't move, rebel scum."

Back during the war, she might have been a bit startled, walking into three troopers who had every reason to shoot her on sight. Now, though, she just looked around the blaster to the trooper holding it and cocked her eyebrow at him. It would take a few seconds, but eventually their HUDs would tell them who she was. They lowered their weapons, and the one with the white pauldron addressed her.

"Sorry ma'am, didn't recognize you."

Of course he didn't, he may have been 501st, but that didn't mean he'd ever seen her, they'd gotten a lot of new blood over the years. She pulled a datachip off her belt and held it out to the sergeant

"Take this, it's every safe house they have. Use detonators."

"Yes ma'am, do you require an escort?"

"No thank you, sergeant, I'll be fine on my own."

Ahsoka wouldn't hold them up, they had buildings to burn, and she had someone to find.

…..

The lieutenant was suspicious, he hadn't seen anything on the schedule that would explain why a trooper and a cadet would be coming into the compound with two crates. In fact, no one should be moving any supplies around until the planet wide lockdown was over. Definitely suspicious. The two halted as he approached.

"What are you two doing here?"

The trooper answered.

"I'm escorting this cadet; he's supposed to deliver these supplies."

"No one's supposed to be away from general quarters."

As he said that, the lieutenant's HUD identified the trooper. He was checked into the infirmary five hours ago, having been knocked out a stripped of his armor. These were rebels, rebels who apparently thought they didn't keep track of these things. The 'cadet' stepped forward and waved his hand as he spoke.

"You will let us pass."

Jedi, great. He'd go along with it; they were walking into a trap anyway.

"Sure, go ahead. Just don't let me catch you wandering around out here again."

As the two walked away into the facility, the lieutenant turned on his comlink.

"Inform Lord Vader and the General, the rebels have entered the compound."

…

The specters rushed across the landing field towards what appeared to be the only shuttle, pushing the generators they had recently 'liberated', a consolation prize for their otherwise fruitless efforts. Kanan and Ezra stopped suddenly, feeling a sudden chill. They turn to see a figure in black approaching them holding a red lightsaber and flanked by Stormtroopers. The two Jedi ignited their lighsabers, Jarrus looked back at Sundulla.

"Get the shuttle ready, we'll hold them off."

"Kanan…"

"Go!"

The two rushed to meet the masked figure while the others ran to board the seemingly unguarded shuttle.

Hera stopped dead in her tracks as she reached the top of the ramp, the others, following close behind, were concerned, until they saw him as well. In the shuttle stood a trooper in solid black armor except for an orange command pauldron.

"Drop your weapons, rebel scum, you're not going anywhere."

Sabine and Hera were confused, Zebb laughed.

"And who's gonna stop us?"

The Lasat stepped up to the trooper, dwarfing him in comparison.

"I am."

Zebb grinned as he deployed his bo rifle, clearly convinced that this man was just suicidal. He struck out with one end, but the trooper ducked the blow and came up into Zebb's rib cage with the butt of his rifle. The Lasat fell back, stunned, and the trooper shouldered his weapon to fire. Zebb grabbed the weapon's long barrel, throwing it aside. The trooper, abandoning his blaster, rushed Zebb and grabbed on to his weapon. The two wrestled for over the rifle for a moment, but the Lasat's superior strength won out. He wound up for a final blow, lifting his weapon of his head. Suddenly, Zebb collapsed, clutching at his side as blood soaked through his fur and clothing. The black armored trooper stood over him, holding up his right arm to show the vibroblade that had been concealed inside his gauntlet.

Quickly recovering from the shock of Zebb's defeat, Hera and Sabine leveled their blasters on the trooper. He seemed unconcerned, retracting the blade and looking around for where his rifle had ended up.

"Stop! Don't move!"

He responded in an annoyed tone.

"Then do it. But you might want to worry about her."

The two were confused until the sound of a lightsaber activating came from the cockpit behind them. They turned to see Ahsoka flanked by two Stormtroopers standing in the doorway.

"Sorry about this, Hera."

The Twi'lek woman's shock and confusion were evident on her face at the revelation of this betrayal.

The troopers forced the two to their knees and disarmed them, Ahsoka walked over to were Ghes had retrieved his rifle. He removed his helmet.

"You couldn't have cut in _before_ the Lasat tried to kill me?"

"You said to wait for your signal. Speaking of which… is he dead?"

"No, he should be fine if he doesn't bleed out all over the deck. Trooper, patch him up."

One of the troopers stood and rushed over to the unconscious Zebb, grabbing a first aid kit off the wall. Hera finally regained enough composure to speak.

"Ahsoka? You've been working for the Empire this whole time?!"

"Yes, I was given a mission to infiltrate a rebel network in the outer rim, that led me to you, and you made the mistake of taking on Tarkin, so you're first on the chopping block"

"But you're a Jedi?"

"Former Jedi, I was tossed out of the Order during the war, if you'd done any real research you'd have known that."

The two rebels were enraged by now, knowing that they'd been played for so long.

"We trusted you!"

"Well you shouldn't have."

She turned her back on the two, no longer wanting to look at them.

Sabine stood suddenly, drawing a holdout blaster and fired at Ahsoka. Ghes stepped in front of the bolt, which panged against his breastplate, causing no real damage. The trooper smacked her in the back with his rifle, then picked her up, pinning her arms to her back and removing her helmet.

"Feisty one, aren't we? Clan Wren is part of House Vizsla, isn't it? What would your parents think of you associating with _aruetiise_ , especially Jedi? If the Emperor didn't want you alive, I'd kill you right now, Death Watch scum."

"Says one of Palpatine's dogs, what kind of _Mando'ade_ helps oppress his own people?"

" _My people_ were slaughtered by Jedi on Galidraan, courtesy of House Vizsla."

Ghes grabbed her from the trooper and motioned to the man to grab Hera.

"Come on, you two are going to help us with something."

They walked down the ramp to find Vader still dueling the two Jedi. He was toying with them, clearly not thinking it worth the effort to simply kill the two. When he saw Ghes and Ahsoka with the prisoners, Vader lowered his saber and disengaged from the duel. Jarrus and Bridger were confused, until they turned to see Ghes and a trooper holding blades to Hera and Sabine's necks.

"I'd stand down if I were you, Jedi, unless you want your girlfriends' blood all over the tarmac."

Bridger clearly considered attacking Ghes and the trooper before Jarrus put his hand on the young man's shoulder and shook his head. The two dropped their sabers and knelt down with their hands behind their heads. The troopers who had accompanied Vader came in to detain the two, cuffing them and dragging them off the field along with Hera and Sabine. Ghes saluted as Vader approached to congratulate him.

"Well done General, the emperor will be most pleased."

"I live to serve, my lord."

Vader glanced briefly at Ahsoka before following the prisoners off the landing field into the facility.

"Do you have to grovel like that?"

"That depends, do you want to be married to a corpse?"

…

Ahsoka wasn't sure what had woken her up, the room was pitch black and entirely silent, but she quickly noticed that Ghes was not in bed next to her. Instead, he sat in a chair staring out a view port into space, helmet in his lap. Ahsoka got out of the bed and walked over to him.

"Ghes, what's wrong?"

"I couldn't sleep. I tried not to wake you."

"You didn't. Something's bothering you, what is it?"

"It's that Wren girl, what she said. Can I really still consider myself _Mando'ade_?"

"That's ridiculous, she was just trying to get to you."

"I almost never speak _Mando'a_ , I have no clan anymore, and this armor may be _beskar_ , but it's far from Mandalorian. That's half the _Resol'Nare_."

"You'd defend me to the last breath."

"That's one."

"Some would say that's the most important."

"I'm supposed to live and breathe the _Resol'Nare_ every day, all six acts."

"So am I, when I agreed to marry you I became _Mando'ade_ to."

"So I failed as a husband to, great."

"If you feel like you're not living up to it you can always change. Speak _Mando'a_ more, add your clan iconography to your armor."

"Why bother, the rest of Clan Marczak died out years ago. My father was the only one left when I was born, and I don't even have him anymore."

"You have me. The two of us might not be much of a clan, but we are a clan. As for children…."

"I made my choice when I asked you to marry me, I don't want you to ever feel guilty about that."

"I know."

Ghes stood up and led her back to the bed, sitting down on the edge.

"I didn't want to bother you with this, you have enough trouble as it is."

"No, Ghes, I want you to tell me when you're having trouble."

"I wanted to stay strong for you. Your always having doubts, I thought that if you saw I had them to…"

"What?"

"I don't know."

"I've always known you've had doubts about this Ghes, that doesn't change anything."

Ghes pulled Ahsoka close, kissing her on the head before laying down.

"I should know I don't have to protect you from anything."

"You don't, but it shows that you care."

…

The clock said 0400, however much time of day really mattered aboard a star destroyer. What did matter was that Ahsoka was awake and Ghes wasn't. It was often like this, she didn't sleep nearly as much as he did, especially if he didn't have anywhere to be. Ahsoka had commented on this once, how weird it was for someone who'd been a soldier his whole life to sleep in so often, he'd laughed and said that all any soldier really wanted was plenty of sleep.

She looked around for something to do while she waited for Ghes to finally drag himself out of bed, but there wasn't really anything, so she decided to brew some caf. As she rooted around inside a cabinet looking for the can, she stopped, something didn't feel right. Ahsoka turned quickly, grabbing something out of the air that had been lying toward her shoulder. It was some sort of dart, probably poison. She tossed it aside, then turned towards its origin, grabbing a blaster pistol Ghes kept hidden in a drawer. A black clad figure stepped out of the shadows in the far corner of the room, some sort of humanoid female.

Shit, how hadn't she noticed her, she should've turned the light on.

"Whoever the hell you are, put your hands up now!"

The woman didn't comply, instead pulling something out from behind her back, a lightsaber.

Shit. Ahsoka fired, but the woman sidestepped and advanced toward her.

"Ghes!"

The intruder ignited the weapon, swinging the crimson blade at Ahsoka, who narrowly avoided the blow. A loud thud came from the bedroom, Ghes rolling out of bed. She dodged another attack, trying to work towards the door so she could call for help.

"Ghes!"

Ghes came out of the bedroom, half naked and firing randomly as he got his bearings. The intruder turned her attention away from Ahsoka, who rolled over a couch to get away. As she stood up, Ghes tossed her one of her lightsabers. Ahsoka ignited the weapon as she leaped back at the intruder, now distracted by Ghes's increasingly accurate fire. The woman blocked Ahsoka's first blow, but fell as she was hit in the leg by one of Ghes's bolt's. Ahsoka quickly battered the woman's blade to the side and held her own at her throat. The intruder deactivated her weapon as Ghes moved over to Ahsoka's side.

"You okay?"

"Yea, you?"

"I really need to stop rolling out of bed every time you yell for me."

"Probably. What do you want to do with her?"

"I could probably get her to talk, but what's the point?"

"So get the guards, or do you want to kill her?"

"Might as well."

Ghes leveled his blaster on the woman's head, but she put her hands up and began pleading.

"Wait! Wait, please don't kill me."

"Give me one reason why not to."

"Don't you want to know who sent me?"

"The Emperor. Try again."

"I can tell you why."

"Another obvious one. You're going to have to try harder than that."

"You can send me back to him, I'll deliver a message."

"No, you'll just come back and try again, because if you go back and tell Palpatine you failed, he'll kill you"

She was panicking now, stuttering and stammering.

"But… but, ah…"

Ghes pulled the trigger. Ahsoka deactivated her saber and picked up the now deceased woman's. It was plain, like it had been manufactured rather than then put together by its dead owner. Someone knocked on the door.

"General? Ma'am? Are you all right in there?"

Ghes opened the door, revealing a confused Navy trooper who'd probably heard something while on patrol. He saw the body and the pistol in Ghes's hand.

"Sir?"

"Trooper, good, get this body out of here and find me the officer of the watch. I need to have a conversation with him about the importance of security."

...

Ghes hated doing parade ground inspections, he found it tedious, but it couldn't be avoided, not on Empire day, not when Vader wanted to show off the Legion. It was a propaganda move, having the 501st take over the celebration from the Lothal garrison, showcasing the Emperor's finest on the one-year anniversary of the last, most public attack carried out by the system's rebel cell, a detachment of Novatroopers had even been sent from Coruscant to act as an honor guard. To his credit, Ghes had put all his effort into making sure his armor looked immaculate. He'd already painted Mandalorian iconography onto the gleaming black _beskar_. In white, he'd painted his bird like clan crest onto the left shoulder guard, with the shield of the True Mandalorians on the right, though the later was obstructed by his pauldron. Several of Ghes's subordinates had grumbled about the departure from regulation this represented, but it was clear they were unwilling to confront him about it, it's not like a General wearing trooper armor was that typical anyway.

"You've done well, General, the Emperor will be most pleased."

Ghes and Ahsoka followed Vader down the lines of the assembled Legion, a task which would take hours if they were to scrutinize every man themselves, but that's what sergeants where for.

"Thank you my Lord. Will the Emperor be in attendance?"

"No, he will merely be viewing the holonet broadcast. This will be viewed across the entire Outer Rim, a clear message of the futility of resistance."

Ahsoka and Ghes were relieved by this, Vader may choose to ignore Ahsoka, but the Emperor would likely react far differently to her presence. As it was she stood out far more than usual, ditching her usual black attire for a suit of armor Ghes had had made for her adorned with his family colors. Luckily, she'd be standing towards the rear of a grandstand, so the garish purple and gold would not have much of an opportunity to draw attention to her.

"It will be quite the spectacle, if this doesn't make Tarkin's job easier I don't know what will."

"Yes, he will finally be free to tinker with his projects in the Maw without interruption."

"Will Tarkin be attending the celebration?"

"He will, General, I assume this won't be an issue?"

"Of course not, my Lord, I only ask so that security measures can be planned accordingly."

"Of course."

They'd walked over a hundred meters down the line before Vader was satisfied and allowed the troops to be dismissed. The parade commenced three hours later. Tarkin joined Vader and Ghes on the grandstand overlooking the passing troops.

"Quite an impressive display, Marczak, perhaps I underestimated you."

"Oh really?"

"Yes, you make quite the event coordinator."

"At least I managed to capture the rebels that managed to destroy your flagship Tarkin. Remember that, right after they seized control of the comtower and broadcast their propaganda across half the Empire?"

"Are you implying that those setbacks were a result of incompetence on my part?"

"Was I being too subtle?"

"I'd like to remind you that the only reason I didn't lay waste to this pitiful rock is that the Emperor considers it of strategic value, and that you withheld valuable information."

"What information did I withhold from you, Tarkin?"

"Your agent inside the rebellion, if I'd know the rebel's plans in advance I'd have been able to lay a trap for them as you did."  
"If you think that we'd have withheld that information from you you're an even greater fool than I thought."

Vader choose this moment to chime in.

"He is correct Tarkin, the rebels you encountered acted independently of the larger network. We have never had any knowledge regarding the planned actions individual cells, they were manipulated into our trap."

"And thanks to that trap, we've dismantled rebel cells all over the Outer Rim."

"But you've yet to locate their patron."

"We have suspects, but no hard evidence."

"And if you fail to locate whoever is behind these rebels we will be dealing with this all again in a few years."

…

Polis Masa was a lifeless rock, cold and dark, the perfect place for a rebel cell to hide. Unfortunately for the rebels, the cramped quarters of their hidden base had made dispatching them all the easier. The battle had been brief, the Stormtroopers had taken few casualties and the few remaining rebels were in custody. However, it didn't appear that what they'd been sent here to obtain was anywhere in the base.

"Useless! Months spent scouring the galaxy and our only lead turns up nothing!"

"I don't understand, it had to be here, everything pointed to this base."

"Nothing in the base computer, decoy holodisks, if the plans were here they've been gone for days at least."

"How is it that, with the limitless resources of the Empire, we can't track down one datafile."  
"I don't know, this entire investigation has been one massive headache. I can't believe I let this happen in the first place."  
"Come on Ghes, it's not your fault, you weren't even there."  
"That's the problem, it's Atoa all over again. If I'd been on the Death Star during the prison break none of this would have happened."  
"Really? How were you supposed to know Major Corro wouldn't be able to handle a riot?"

"I shouldn't have left the buffoon in charge, he wasn't fit to run a mail room, let alone a Legion!"

"At least you don't have to deal with him anymore."

"I should've handed him over to Vader, he didn't deserve the mercy of a bolt."

An engineer interrupted Ghes and Ahsoka's conversation with a salute and a report.

"General, I think we found something."  
"What?"

"A message, sent out earlier today."

"To who?"

"A diplomatic vessel, the _Tantive IV_ , from Alderaan."

"Organa, that slimo! We should've arrested him years ago! Inform Lord Vader."

"Right away, sir."

…..

There had been no rebel base on Dantooine, at least not an active one. Tarkin had been misled into sending them on a wild goose chase, and the arrogant bastard had paid for it with his life, along with the those of tens of thousands of Imperial personnel. The rebellion had scored its greatest victory that day, and was likely celebrating the Empire's embarrassment. Ghes was still alive. With Lord Vader missing and Tarkin confirmed dead, Ghes took control of the dead governor's fleet and what was left of the 501st and set out for Yavin. The rebels were smart, most had evacuated within the week it took for the Imperial retaliation strike to arrive, but a few were left, and those few received the full force of Vader's Fist. They could have wiped the surface of the planet clean from orbit after they defeated the pitiful fleet assisting the ongoing evacuation, but Ghes wanted to send a message, more than that he wanted answers, and for that he needed prisoners. The battle lasted most of the day, rebel forces attempting to fight to the last man, but some had no choice on the matter. Only a hand full of prisoners were taken, it was all Ghes could do to keep the troopers from executing every rebel on the spot. The prisoners were brought up to Ghes's headquarters aboard _Exactor_ for interrogation, something he looked forward to handling himself. Ahsoka had been angry when the about the station's destruction, but more than that she felt guilty, guilty because her and Ghes had failed. For months they'd searched for the stolen plans and if they'd found them then none of this would have happened, Tarkin never would have destroyed Alderaan, the Death Star never would have been destroyed, billions of lives wouldn't have been lost. That's why she decided to help Ghes with the interrogations.

"Tell me what I want to know, rebel scum, and I promise your death will be as painless as possible."

"I'm not tell you fascists anything."

"You know, I was hoping you'd say that, I desperately want to make this as painful as possible."

Ghes pulled a vibroblade off his belt and ran his finger across the blade. The knife was a ploy of course, what Ghes had planned was much worse.

"Go to hell."

"Have it your way."

Ahsoka tentatively stepped forward and held her hand up to the man's chest. Slowly, she used the force to compress his rib cage, squeezing the heart and lungs, as if he was being crushed in a hydraulic press. This had been Ghes's idea, and it had taken a lot to convince her to go along with it, but he had and she'd agreed. There wasn't any turning back now. He gasped for air and his ribs started cracking, likely sending splinters of bone into the soft tissue beneath. Within a minute, the rebel tried to say something, though he was unable. Ahsoka lessened her hold on the man, allowing him to gasp out a plea for mercy.

"Stop, I'll tell you everything, just stop!"

"Tell me where your friends evacuated to. Where is the new rebel base?"

"I don't know; they wouldn't tell any of us!"

"Oh, really?"

"Yes! I swear I'm telling the truth!"

Ghes glanced at Ahsoka, she nodded, affirming that the man was telling the truth.

"Okay, well then I guess you're useless to me. Unless you happen to know the name of the pilot who destroyed the Death Star?"

"Yes, no, I don't know his full name!"

"What do you know?"

"He arrived shortly before the Death Star did, with Senator Organa and the plans."

"What was his name!"

"Skywalker! His name was Skywalker."

Ahsoka looked up suddenly, shocked by this revelation. Ghes to was speechless, and it was several moments before he was finally able to respond.

"Skywalker?"

"Yes! Please, make the pain stop."

The man's plea jolted Ghes out of shocked state. He took the knife and drove it into the man's chest, impaling his heart. He left the man their as he and Ahsoka exited the cell. Ghes turned to the trooper guarding the door.

"Get rid of him and execute the rest, they won't be able to tell us any more than this one did."

"Right away, General."

Ghes stalked off down the corridor with Ahsoka close behind.

"It can't be true."

"It has to be, there's no other reason for him to know that name."

"But Padme never gave birth."

"Well there aren't any other Skywalkers."

"What exactly happened to her, could the child have survived?"

"They had her body at her funeral, visibly pregnant, but the records concerning her death were vague."

"What are we going to tell Vader?"

"I don't know, but we have until he turns up to figure it out."

"If it really is his son; how do you think he'll handle it?"

"I don't know Ahsoka, I don't know."

They didn't say anything else most of the way back from the detention block, but eventually Ahsoka broke the silence. There was something else she needed to say.

"What did we just do?"

"What we had to."

"Did we?"

"We had to find out what he knew, Ahsoka, we had to find out so we can stop anything like this from ever happening again."

"But we didn't get anything, just a name, a name we could have gotten without him."

"The fact that he didn't know anything doesn't matter, what matters is that he could've known something. The rules have changed; we're going to have to do things we'd rather not do if we're going to keep the peace we've worked so hard to maintain."

"I don't know if I can do something like that again."

"I understand, and I won't make you."


	4. Part IV

Part IV- Things Fall Apart

Lord Vader wasn't handling it well.

"L-l-lord Vader, please."

Ghes gasped for air as the Sith clenched his throat with the force.

"First, you rob me of my revenge. Second, you have the nerve to question me regarding the death of Senator Amidala. Explain this insolence, General, or you will die."

He managed to gasp out one word.

"Skywalker…"

Enraged, Vader tightened his grip.

"Never use that name!"

Moments from passing out, Ghes choked out a final attempt to get across his meaning.

"Yavin, pilot, Skywalker."

Vader dropped the general as it dawned on him what he was trying to say, Ghes quickly collapsed to the ground, desperately trying to catch his breath.

"Do you mean to tell me that the pilot I encountered was the spawn of Skywalker?"

He furiously nodded his head in response as he struggled to pull himself up to his feet.

"Yes, Lord Vader."

"How did you obtain this knowledge?"

"From one of the rebels we captured on Yavin, he arrived with Organa and the Death Star plans."

"Kenobi."

"What about General Kenobi, my Lord?"

"It is none of your concern. You're dismissed, General."

Vader stalked away, leaving Ghes bracing himself against the bulkhead, still trying to recover.

Ghes returned to his new quarters aboard the recently completed _Executor_ to find Ahsoka waiting for him. He collapsed into a chair and tore open the collar of his uniform, still struggling to breathe through a bruised windpipe. Concerned, she rushed over to him.

"What happened?"

"Vader. He wasn't very happy with how I handled things in his absence."

"What do you mean?"

"Apparently, he wanted to lay waste to the rebels on Yavin himself, and he wasn't too happy when I asked him about Padme."

"Did you explain to him that he might have a son?"

"Yea, after he tried to strangle me with his mind."

"He tried to kill you? What's he thinking, you're one of the best officers he has, and among the few loyal to him rather than Palpatine."

"I don't think loyalty matters much when you remind someone of the family they almost had. Especially if that person had something to do with their death."

Ahsoka was visibly taken aback by this.

"Do you really think he killed her?"

"Maybe, it's obviously a very painful memory, and he wasn't exactly thinking straight that day."

"But then how could she have given birth without him knowing?"

"He said something about Kenobi."

"What does Obi Wan have to do with this?"

"I don't know, but he must have had something to do with the child remaining hidden for so long."

"Once, Obi Wan told me that Anakin grew up on Tatooine, and that he had family there."

"Family?"

"Yea, a step brother and his wife."

"Not Skywalkers then."

"No, but Obi Wan might have brought them the child."

They didn't speak for a while after that, both contemplating what this would mean for them and the galaxy. It was Ahsoka who broke the silence.

"This isn't going to end well for any of us."

"No."

"Vader's going to become obsessed and this rebellion is only going to get worse."

…

The smell of ozone lingered in the air from the recent firefight, though more obvious evidence of this were the bodies littering the floor of the corridor leading into rebel outpost. Ahsoka continued deeper into the base, passing more dead rebels along the way, until she found Ghes standing over a computer console in what appeared to be the command center.

"You started the party without me?"

"Sorry, the boys got antsy."

"Doesn't look like the fight was worth the time anyway."

"Not really."

"Did you at least get anything good?"

"Not so far, I have no idea why this place even exists."

"Ilum's isolated, and there's the temple."

"I guess that probably has something to do with it…

Something was distracting him, that was clear.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Really?"

"Nothing's wrong."

"Come on, tell me."

"Nothing's wrong, Ahsoka"

"Yes it is, I can tell."

"What are you, a mind reader?"

"No.., well technically yes, but I'm also your wife. Now tell me what's bothering you."

"It's these damn raids, we're not getting anywhere, gaining any ground. This is the third outpost this month and it's the same as the rest, minimal personnel, isolated location, no useful intel."

"So?"

"So I think they're leading us on, letting us raid these bases as a distraction while they plan something bigger."

"Come on, that's crazy, they'd never throw away lives like that."

"Maybe that's not it, but that's sure as hell what it feels like."

One of the commandos came up behind them holding a data pad.

"General, we found something, a backlog of communications that were never deleted."

"Anything useful?"

"Possibly, but it will take hours to sift through."

"Forward it to _Executor_ then."

"Aye, General."

The commando saluted and left the room. Ahsoka nudged Ghes with her elbow, trying to get him to look up from the panel.

"Come on, at least you found something."

"Maybe, we _maybe_ found something."

She threw up her hands and started walking away.

"I give up, there's no talking to you when you get like this."

That got Ghes's attention.

"When I get like what?"

"What do you think? Every other day it's something else, you're depressing yourself. You're not going to end this war by yourself, and certainly not as quickly as you seem to think."

"I don't want to get into this right now."

"This is what I'm talking about, you spend all this time going over intel, planning raids, all the while you refuse to talk to me about anything!"

"I've always told you everything!"

"You used to!"

"Now what's that supposed to mean?"

"You've been distant ever since Yavin."

"How? How have I been distant?"

"We haven't had an actual conversation in months, every time I see you, every time I try to talk to you, you have your nose in a datapad."

"I'm sorry if I've been a little wrapped up in my work. In case you haven't noticed, there's a war going on!"

"Don't give me that excuse, the war never ended for you, the enemy just changed."

"The enemy may have changed, but I sure as hell haven't."

"No, you're still the same stubborn man you were twenty years ago."

Ahsoka starting walking away again, but this time Ghes didn't stop her. She left the outpost and walked through the snow toward the shuttle that had brought her to the planet's surface, unsure what to do.

It's not like they hadn't fought before, they were married after all, and their lives were often stressful, but it had never been like this. Before, it had always been little things, various chores, differing opinions on a topic, and a million other things that had been forgotten just as quickly as they'd occurred. Ghes had never been distant, though, never refused to talk, never ignored her like he'd been doing recently, and it hurt on a level deeper than any physical wound. Was it her? Was she pushing him away somehow? She didn't know, didn't know any of it anymore, and that's what scared her most.

All the terrible things she'd done since Order 66, Ahsoka had no idea how'd she'd be able to deal with them without Ghes, he was her rock, and she was sure she was his.

She thought about going back inside, about going to apologize to him, or demand one from him, but decided against it. If she gave him time, maybe he'd realize how much of an asshole he was being and come apologize on his own. Ghes was stubborn though, so there was no guarantee that would ever happen. On the other hand, she was the only one he'd ever been willing to make concessions to before.

Ahsoka stood under the shuttle for another hour, going back and forth between wanting to go apologize and waiting for Ghes to come to her. She never made a decision, as Ghes and the commandos came out of the now abandoned outpost. They walked over to her, as their shuttle had put down several kilometers away and had since returned to the destroyer in orbit. Ghes brought up the rear of the group, saying nothing as he walked passed her up the ramp. She followed, taking a seat next to him as the shuttle lifted off. The commandos began removing their helmets and Ahsoka pulled down the hood of the heavy coat she'd been wearing, but Ghes left his helmet on. As they sat there in silence, Ahsoka worried that she may have gone too far, that maybe he'd been more depressed than she realized. Then he spoke.

"I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I'm sorry I've been so distant, I'm sorry I haven't been talking to you, and I'm sorry I snapped at you."

"You told me you weren't going to shut me out anymore."

"I wasn't trying to."

"But you did."

"I know. There's been so much pressure on me lately, every day it seems like they're gaining more and more ground and I can't do anything about it. I don't know what to do anymore."

"Then talk to me about it, I want to help you."

"I'm not sure if you want to anymore."

"What do you mean? Of course I am."

"I believe in the New Order, Ahsoka, I like working for the Empire."

"What? Since when?"

"I think I always have. When I was in the army back before the war, I always heard the Judicials talking about how they could've ended the Separatist movement before it had even started if it wasn't for the Senate's bureaucracy getting in the way. But now, we've been able to do whatever's necessary to keep the peace, without any petty bureaucrat to answer to."

Ahsoka had to admit it made sense, in its own sort of way.

"I understand, doesn't mean I agree, but I understand."

"I still hate Palpatine, I hate how he encourages plotting and backstabbing, I hate how everyone looks at you, I hate how they look at me for marrying you. But it doesn't have to be like that, the Empire can survive past him, it can be run by better men, men who care about justice and order."

"You know I don't think less of you for believing that. I know you're a good man."

"Part of me has always worried you'd leave me. You were so idealistic when we were younger, it wasn't hard to imagine you getting fed up with this."

She took his hand in hers and looked into his eyes through his helmet.

"Listen to me, no matter what, I'd never leave you like that. I go back and forth on whether or not we're doing the right thing, fighting for the Empire, but that's not going to stop me from loving you."

Ghes finally removed his helmet, placing it on the seat beside him, before putting his arm around her.

"I know, but sometimes I just need to hear it."

…

"General, I wasn't expecting an Inspection."

The Major's voice was muffled by the breathing mask required to breath in Kessel's thin artificial atmosphere, but that didn't hide his discomfort.

"That's because this isn't an inspection, Major, I'm here for Antilles."

"The rebel officer?"

"Yes, the rebel officer. Bring him out, I don't have all day."

The Major stared down at his boots as he answered.

"I'm afraid he is no longer at this facility."

"What?"

"He escaped while in transit, sir."

"In transit?"

"Yes, sir, he was scheduled for termination."

"Huh, interesting…"

Ghes put a bolt into the Major's chest, stepping over the corpse and stalking toward the base entrance with Ahsoka and a squad of Storm commandos at his heels. The shocked garrison troopers quickly recovered and followed them. Ghes removed his helmet and started barking orders as soon as they entered the facility.

"Captain, I'm in command now. Put the base on high alert, I want every trooper on this rock watching the sky."

The trooper saluted and left as they entered the command center. Ahsoka came up behind Ghes as he finished organizing the defenses.

"What's going on?"

"Antilles has enough knowledge of this base that they wouldn't pass up the opportunity to take it out."

"It's a slave labor camp, why the hell should we care?"

"Because of who's going to be leading the attack."

"Skywalker?"

"Skywalker."

They were interrupted by the sensor officer.

"Sir, multiple contacts approaching from orbit."

"Rebels?"

"Yes, sir, seven T-65 snubfighters, one _Sentinel_ -class landing craft."

"Activate shields and bring the perimeter defenses online."

"Aye, sir."

"Deck officer, you have the con."

Ghes put his helmet on and waved for the commandos to follow him as he left the control center. Fighters scrambled and turbolaser batteries opened up as the X-wings began their attack. Within minutes, the shield generator had been destroyed and rebel commandos were storming the prison block.

"Trooper, situation report."

"Not good, General, they cut down twenty men on their way in, and I don't think we have enough man power to stop them on the way out."

"Then I'm going in after them. On me, boys, shoot to kill."

Ahsoka led the way, sabers lit, with Ghes behind her pointing his rifle over her shoulder, the commandos formed up behind them. They made their way through the, now, mostly empty passageways of the prison, Ahsoka trying hard to ignore how much it reminded her of the facility she'd been held in. Two rebels attempted to stop them as they neared the rear of the facility, but were quickly dispatched. The rebel ship had taken advantage of the base defenses' preoccupation with the fighter attack to relocate to an auxiliary landing pad at the rear of the prison block. Ghes, Ahsoka and their team reached the rebels while they were still loading the recently liberated prisoners. They opened fire, killing three more rebels and a half dozen prisoners before they managed to retaliate. The prisoners continued to rush into the landing craft, making the most of the limited covering fire provided by the rebel soldiers. Then, Ghes surprised everyone by breaking cover and advancing on his own towards the rebel ship, yelling at the top of his lungs.

"Madine! You traitorous son of a bitch, get out here and fight me like a man!"

Ahsoka, as well as the commandos, stopped and scanned the rebel lines. Towards the middle of the group stood the man who had provoked such anger in Ghes, Crix Madine, founder of the Storm commandos turned rebel general. She understood why his presence had angered Ghes, traitors where one thing he never tolerated, the result of _mando'ade'_ s emphasis on honor, as well as years of military service. Madine waved at his men to cease-fire before responding to Ghes.

"General Marczak! Still running Vader's errands, I see!"

"You still working for that bitch Mothma, and Organa's bastard daughter?!"

"We don't need to do this, Marczak, I know you don't like the shady shit we've done for Palpatine any more than I did."

"Don't you pull that moral high ground shit on me, Crix, you're a traitor, a terrorist, and in my book that's a hell of a lot worse than anything I've done."

"So you're going to kill me? Is that the only way this is going to end?"

"There's no other way it can end."

"You can come with us, Alliance needs all the manpower we can get, that goes for you to, boys!"

Several of the commandos thought the offer over for several seconds, but dismissed the idea quickly with only a little mental suggestion on Ahsoka's part. What the offer did accomplish, however, was further enraging Ghes, who immediately opened up with his rifle again as he advanced further toward the rebels. He was protected from their fire by his armor, but Ahsoka knew that the amount of bolts striking home would start to heat up the plates pretty fast, to the point that they'd either start melting or boil Ghes, so she leaped out in front of him and began beating back their fire. Her presence panicked the rebel soldiers, who began pulling back from their cover towards the _Sentinel_ as Madine screamed something she couldn't hear into his comlink. It was likely a cry for help, as one of the X-wings broke of its engagement with the remaining base defenses and fighters, and headed right for them. As the rebel fighter drew nearer, Ahsoka felt a unique presence emanating from the pilot, familiar yet different, Skywalker.

"Ghes!"

"What!"

"He's in that fighter!"

"Who?"

"Skywalker!"

"Shit!"

He turned his attention away from the escaping rebel to fire at the approaching fighter. The X-wing's shielding prevented his rifle from doing any damage, and Skywalker opened up on them with his laser canons, causing Ghes to dive for cover and Ahsoka to leap away. He didn't make a second run on them, instead following the landing craft as it made its escape alongside the remaining fighters. Ghes sat up from where he'd landed on the platform, taking off his helmet and throwing it aside, not wanting to listen to the damage and casualty reports coming in from across the facility.

…

"I believe, Lord Vader, that this attack is evidence that Skywalker has an extremely exploitable weakness, one that we would be fools not to take advantage of it."

"And what is that, General?"

"He is willing to undertake operations of significant risk in order to rescue his friends or those he sees as innocent victims of the Empire, a trait no doubt inherited from his late father. Use those close to him as bait and he'll walk into whatever trap you set, no matter how obvious."

"Thank you for the observation, General, but this does not lessen your responsibility for the rebel's success on Kessel."

"I understand, my Lord."

"You are a valuable asset to the Empire, General, but not an irreplaceable one."

...

The shuttle kicked up a cloud of sand as it touched down near the center of a hastily constructed staging area in the vast deserts of Zaloriis. Upon exiting the craft, Ahsoka saw other craft landing all around the small compound, disgorging massive amounts of troops and equipment. It was impressive sight, especially since she hadn't seen the 501st deploy in full like this in over a decade. She didn't realize she'd stopped until one of the troopers behind her tapped her on the shoulder. As she started walking again, she saw Ghes had stopped to wait for her, and now had a very self-satisfied grin on his face, though she was the only one who could through his helmet.

"The boys finally do something to impress you?"

"It's the scale of it all. Since when did we have this much equipment?"

"Most of it's been in storage waiting for a real fight, this kind of hardware isn't something you roll out for parades or small ops."

"I thought you said this was a local rebellion?"

"It is."

"Then is the planet infested with rancors?"

"Don't think so, but they did manage to capture a research base run by some army Colonel named Veers. Emperor wants to make an example out of them."

"Ah."

Ahsoka didn't have much experience with the regular Imperial Army, they were mostly deployed as garrisons and armored units, not mixing well with the more highly trained Stormtroopers. Army officers did, however, make up most of the high echelons of the command structure, there were very few Stormtroopers who ranked above Colonel. They were the ones who caused Ghes the most trouble, especially now that his higher ranking subordinates were men he'd consider proper Stormtroopers. The Army was constantly butting heads with him over who had authority over what. Luckily, none of those blowhards where here, just Ghes. And Vader.

He stood over a holographic map of the region, surrounded by the few officers who had arrived before them, as well as the holograms of the various navy officers commanding the ships in orbit. As they approached, Vader acknowledged Ghes's presence.

"General."

"Lord Vader."

"If you gentlemen would turn your attention to Col. Veers."

Veers was a disheveled looking man of average height in a dirt-stained officer's uniform, clear signs of his recent captivity at the hands of the locals. Despite his appearance, he maintained an aura of confidence as he delivered the briefing.

"Thank you, Lord Vader. Our first objective is to retake the Camp Culroon research facility and the valuable prototype walker contained within. From there, we'll march on the capital and end this rebellion. Any questions? Good, prepare your men for battle."

The other officers departed, leaving Ghes, Ahsoka, Vader, and Veers standing around the map on which Veers had illustrated the battle plan.

"Yes, General?"

"What are we actually up against here, Veers?"

"Nothing our walkers can't handle; the locals have some light equipment, a few militarized speeders."

"How'd they manage to capture you then?"

"They surrounded our base in the night and forced our surrender, there was nothing we could've done."

Ghes smirked.

"Of course. Well, I'd better go get the boys ready. Lord Vader."

…

The troop bay of the AT-AT was cramped, but that was a given whenever you put forty men in an armored box, especially one perched atop four legs, surprisingly long for a machine of this size and weight. The troopers didn't seem to mind though, they considered this safer than flying a _Sentinel_ into a fortified position, and a hell of a lot easier than walking through the desert. It didn't appear to be designed with anyone like Ahsoka in mind however, she couldn't stand up straight and she was the forty-first person, so Ghes had spent the ride pacing up and down the aisle. But other than that, the environmental controls kept the interior cool, the walker's motions were surprisingly smooth and the troop bench wasn't worse than any other transport she'd been in.

"Heads up, five minutes to drop point."

All around her troopers prepped for battle, power packs were inserted, blasters switched on, com channels checked. Ahsoka checked her sidearm and lightsabers before placing them back on her belt, Ghes retrieved his rifle from where he'd attached it to her chair, being too long and bulky for him to carry while pacing. The deck officers moved over to the doors, prepping the winches. At the go signal, the walker halted and the doors opened, blaster bolts whizzed by as the cables deployed. Ghes was out the door with the first wave, hitting the ground running and barking orders as always. Ahsoka waved off the deck officer trying to hook her up, instead leaping off the side and landing to where Ghes had taken cover in the ruble. He smiled at her.

"Show off."

"Look who's talking."

Their advance through the city was swift, fire support from the walkers annihilating any hardened pockets of resistance. The only real obstacle was a small Alliance force defending the militia headquarters, but they too were quickly annihilated. The battle ended within a few hours, and the computer core of the Alliance base was mined for data by Col. Veers. Zaloriis's poulaton was desolated, the Empire had sent a powerful message to those emboldened by Yavin, and they had a lead on the new rebel base, somewhere near Elroon.

…..

Ghes was pissed off again, and it probably had something to do with the latest in a long line of staff meetings that had been occurring in the aftermath of Vader creating the ominously named Death Squadron in the aftermath of Zaloriis. Ahsoka, for her part, never had and never wanted to attend any of these meetings, the looks she other officers gave her made her want to start stabbing people. But Ghes had no choice in his attendance, and from his demeanor as he entered the room, today had been particularly bad.

"What happened this time?"

"You remember Veers?"

"Yea."

"Vader promoted him, he's my boss now, along with every other troop element in the fleet."

"Seriously?"

"Apparently some admiral recommended him for promotion and Vader went with it. And, even though we're the same rank now, and I have more experience, he's apparently more qualified to be force commander."

"Did you argue?"

"Of course not, I've been on Vader's bad side since Yavin, and as he's made clear, I am replaceable."

"Maybe to him."

That particular comment made after the raid on Kessel had made Ahsoka particularly angry, so much that Ghes tried to avoid bringing it up.

"Calm down, nothing's going to happen to me."

"If he threatens you…"

"He won't follow through on it, not now, not in the middle of rebellion of this scale."

"And if your wrong?"

"Then I guess I won't live long enough to regret it."

She punched him in the arm, glaring angrily.

"Don't joke like that, ass."

….

If any planet could be colder than Ilum, Hoth was definitely it. The remote, frozen ice-ball was barely habitable even at the equator, and was so out of the way that it had been at the bottom of the list of planets to search. Luckily, a probe droid had been sent, and it had located the rebel base. Unfortunately, despite days of planning, Admiral Ozzel had 'screwed the bantha', as Ghes had put it, and come out of hyperspace to close, giving the rebels time to activate a small planetary class shield generator, protecting them from orbital bombardment. Veers had been prepared though, deploying a ground assault that was quickly overwhelming the defenses.

The 501st didn't have much of a part to play, the dedicated cold weather assault troops of Blizarrd Force handling most of the actual combat. Ghes and his men didn't sit out the battle though, accompanying Lord Vader into the tunnels of the rebel base as his personal escort.

"On your left."

Ghes tossed a detonator down the passageway as he passed.

"Dealt with. Where's Lord Vader?"

"They found _Millennium Falcon_ in the east hanger."

"Ah."

He fired over Ahsoka's shoulder as she deflected fire from the rebel forces. The narrow passageways had made for slow going as they made their way to the main hanger, hoping to catch whatever evacuation vessels were left on the ground.

"Damn ice isn't doing my equipment any favors."

"At least you're in an environmentally sealed suit."

Technically, her bodysuit was sealed as well, but her head was still only covered by the hood of a coat rather than a sealed helmet like Ghes and the troopers.

"It's not my fault your head isn't amenable to the standard issue buckets."

"And what's that supposed to mean."

"Nothing, dear."

Ghes knew better than to joke about the Empire's strongly pro-human disposition in the middle of combat, especially when he was wearing standard issue cold weather gear rather than _beskar_. Ahsoka would never intentionally hurt him over a joke, of course, but, if he distracted her, a stray blaster bolt could get through and graze his arm. Accidentally, of course.

"Floor plan I lifted says the main hanger should be up here."

They turned the corner to find a vast, mostly empty room, the only inhabitants being a few rebel troopers fleeing out the far end. It looked as if the space, which had clearly been used as a hanger, had been emptied out prior to their infiltration of the base, the ships probably moved to a landing field outside the base in order to hasten the evacuation of the defenders. At the same time, a large explosion created a tremor which shook the entire complex, raining loose chunks of ice down on them from the ceiling.

"Report, what's going on out there?"

"Rebels blew the ion canon, General, and they took half a company with 'em."

"Damn! Inform Lord Vader the rebels have evacuated and likely set a self-destruct sequence on the base. Whatever's left of them is the fleet's problem now."

…

Ghes removed his helmet as they stepped out of the shuttle into Executor's main hanger. Again, Ahsoka noticed how much he'd changed since they'd met. His black hair was streaked with grey now, slowly turned by the stress of his position as well as the march of time, and he'd gained a number of new scars across his body. She'd changed to, she was taller, lekku longer and more ornate, sometimes it was hard to believe the woman staring back at her in the mirror was the same girl who'd stepped off the shuttle on Chrstophsis, nervous to meet her new mentor.

As they passed a stack of munitions crates, Ghes stopped and sat down, clearly still exhausted from the day's battle. Ahsoka sat down next to him, leaving the troopers that had accompanied them to wander back to the barracks.

"You ever think we're getting to old for this?"

"What's the matter, Ghes, you getting arthritis, chest pains?"

"No, I'm just tired a lot more than I used to be."

"You feel like an old man?"

"If you're just going to make fun of me…"

"Aw, clam down, Ghes. There's nothing wrong with getting older, you've got to start slowing down sometime."

"Oh yea? I don't see you missing any steps."

"It's the force, what you gonna do? Master Yoda was a few hundred years old and he could jump a dozen times his own height."

"Now that's just unfair, freakin jedi."

"Hey!"

"You're not a Jedi, hon."

"Then what am I?"

"Hell if I know, the only thing that matters to me is that you're you."

"That's sweet… I think."

Ghes stood up and stretched his arms before grabbing his rifle and starting off back to their suite. Ahsoka followed, putting her arm through his. As they passed by the barracks mess, they heard a commotion coming from inside.

"I wonder what's going on in there?"

"Want to check it out?"

She nodded and Ghes opened the door. Inside, the men of the 501st were celebrating the day's victory. One of the troopers saw them enter and walked over with two cups.

"General! Ma'am! You here for the party?"  
Ghes took the drinks from him, sipping from one before handing the other to Ahsoka.

"What's the occasion, Corporal?"

"End of the rebellion, General. We won!"

That proclamation elicited a cheer from the crowded room.

"One more question, where'd you get the booze?"

"It didn't come from you, General?"

"Oh, yea, must have signed the forms and forgot about it."

As the trooper rejoined his comrades, Ghes looked at Ahsoka and shrugged.

"Boys must have forged my signature; I'll deal with it later. Hope I'm not paying for this though, tastes expensive."

"Is it really over?"

"Maybe, maybe not, but how often do we really get to have any fun?"

….

Ghes really regretted the past night's optimism, mostly because of the splitting headache it was causing him now. It wasn't helping that a steady stream of asteroids impacting on the shields were sending tremors through the hull. Ahsoka, for her part, was trying very hard not to laugh every time Ghes covered his head against the table.

"Ughhh, why are we in an asteroid field?!"

"How should I know?"

"I don't know, my head hurts too bad to think."

"This is why we don't drink, you always go overboard and regret it."

"Why didn't you stop me then?"

"I tried, but you're not exactly cooperative when you drink."

She slid a cup of caf across the table to him. It was there for a minute before he looked up, noticed it, and took a sip.

"Thanks."

"Drink up, you've got to go up there and figure out what's going on."

"Can't I just take a sick day?"

"Do you get sick days?"

"I don't know; they didn't exactly hand me a contract with my terms of employment."

"At least you're sounding better."

"My head is still killing me."

"Then maybe next time you'll listen, now come on, I laid out your uniform for you."

….

The troopers held their blasters on the black suited figure that had walked out of the forest without warning and surrendered to them that morning. When they'd called it in, rather than bringing him in, command had ordered them to hold where they were and wait for back up. After that order, no one had wanted to go near the rebel, so they'd been locked in a standoff while they waited. Three hours into the standoff, the ground shook, indicating the approach of an AT-AT. The walker wasn't able to approach their position because of the dense foliage, but the sound of troopers repelling down to the forest floor could be heard through the trees. A squad of Storm commandos came rushing into the clearing through the underbrush, at the head of their formation was the black armored figure of the 501st commanding officer and a Togruta in mandalorian armor whom the troopers did not recognize. The commandos moved in on the rebel, who provided no resistance as they restrain him, leading him away as the general moved over to the lieutenant commanding the platoon, returning his salute before addressing him.

"Congratulations, Lieutenant, we'll take him from here, continue your patrol."

"Yes, sir, but may I ask who he is?"

"You don't know? You just captured Lord Vader's prize. Commander Skywalker."

Onboard the walker, Ghes and Ahsoka found themselves face to face with the man the Empire had been hunting for four years, the man who destroyed the Death Star, the last of the Jedi, and the only part of Anakin Skywalker left after his fall to the dark side. The three sat there, Ghes and Ahsoka staring across the aisle of the mostly empty troop bay at the restrained Skywalker. Ghes had removed his helmet, wanting to look the Skywalker in the eye.

"Do you know who we are, Skywalker?"

"You're General Marczak, commanding officer of the 501st legion, Vader's personal army."

"I guess Alliance intelligence isn't complete garbage."

Ahsoka leaned forward, looking in the man's eyes as well, trying to see if how he reacted to her.

"What about me, do you know who I am?"

"General Madine says you're one of the Emperor's agents, a force-user."

"Well he's wrong, I don't work for the Emperor. My name is Ahsoka Tano, I was a Jedi once, during the Clone War. I was your father's apprentice."

His response wasn't what she was expecting, he was surprised, but not especially shocked.

"So you knew him, and you know what happened to him."

"Yes."

"Can you tell me?"

"I don't know much, not more than Obi-wan could have told you."

"He didn't tell me."

"Then I guess I will; at the end of the war, something happened to your mother, I don't know what, but he may have had something to do with it. What I do know is that it drove him over the edge and right under Palpatine's wing, and when the call went out to terminate the Jedi, he led the assault on the temple. He slaughtered all of them, masters, knights, younglings, it didn't matter, the rest of us were led to believe that the Jedi had betrayed the Republic, and the only way to achieve lasting peace was the formation of the Empire. Shortly after, your father was sent to Mustafar to end the Separatist threat once and for all. What came back wasn't him anymore, he was gone."

"How did you survive?"

"I left the Order over a year before the war ended. The Jedi weren't willing to stand up for me when I was wrongly accused, so I wasn't going to stand by them."

Ghes joined back back into the conversation, taking Ahsoka's hand in his."

"The day she left the Order, I asked her to marry me. Together, we kept fighting, first for the Republic, then for the Empire."

"Why fight for the Empire?"

"Peace, peace for the galaxy and peace for ourselves, if we'd left the Empire would have hunted us down relentlessly. On the inside, your father provides us with a measure of protection, we can live our lives and try to make a difference, but I wouldn't expect you to really understand."

The walker stopped, having pulled up to its docking station, and Skywalker spoke again.

"You're wrong, you know. There's still good left in him."

"I'm not sure how much good is left in anymore, kid."

Ghes stood, grabbing Skywalker and pulling him to the front of the vehicle. He called out to the vehicle's commander.

"Igar! Take him to Vader, I need to start organizing the search for his friends."

"I came here alone; you won't find anyone else."

"Sure I won't."

He handed Skywalker to two troopers waiting with Commander Igar by the door and waved to him as he left.

"Good talking to you, kid. Come see us again after this whole thing is over."

…..

It was over.

Ghes and Ahsoka sat, side by side, cuffed to a table in an interrogation room on board one of the remaining Alliance ships. The battle was over, the Death Star was once again destroyed, Vader and Palpatine were dead, the mighty Imperial Navy had fled the sector, and Ghes had surrendered what little remained of his command after a drawn out siege by Alliance and Native forces. He and Ahsoka had been quickly separated from the troopers and placed in high security lock up aboard this cruiser overnight, and this morning they'd been placed in this room. Their weapons and armor had been confiscated, with Ghes being given an officer's uniform seized from his quarters at the Endor base and Ahsoka being given an unmarked uniform of the same type.

"I don't see why they didn't bring any of your stuff, it was in the same locker."

"Who knows, maybe they're trying to let you maintain a semblance of dignity."

"I surrendered to a bunch of farmers and fur balls, where's the dignity in that?"

"You didn't have a choice."

"We could have kept fighting, taken as many of them with us as possible."

"It would have been a waste."

"Better to die fighting than to some Alliance firing squad."

"Calm down, they won't execute us."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because they haven't executed Madine, and he was just as bad as you before he turned traitor."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That you both did equally bad things in the name of the Empire."

"Well, at least I'm not a filthy traitor."

"Yes, Ghes, and that makes you _so_ much better."

"Doesn't it?"

Their conversation was ended by the entrance of two soldiers, quickly followed by Skywalker and Leia Organa, former senator from Alderaan and one of the Alliance's main political leaders. Organa spoke first.

"General and Mrs. Marczak, I trust you've found your accommodations satisfactory?"

Ahsoka winced, no one had ever actually referred to her using Ghes's surname before, and she'd never thought that the first time would be while she was imprisoned. Ghes responded in his typical manner.

"I'd actually like to complain, Princess, these restraints are too tight, and the slabs that pass for beds around here are hard on my back."

It was Organa's turn to wince at the use of her official title, heir to the throne of a dead world, before she continued

"Please try to understand the severity of your situation, General, you two are particularly dangerous and we can't afford to take the risk of you escaping."

"Us, escape? Never! You won, fair and square, so we promise to behave."

"Sure you do."

"What do you want from us anyway, is it really worth all this trouble?"

"Believe it or not, General, you're the highest ranking Imperial we captured on Endor, so that makes you valuable."

"Whatever it is you think you're going to get out of me, you can just forget it, I'm no traitor."

Before Organa could respond, Skywalker put his hand over hers and started speaking instead.

"The war is over for you, General, but you don't have to live the rest of your lives in a prison cell. Just tell us what we want to know and you can live a normal life."

"No can do, kid, I took an oath, and I can't go back on that as long as there still is an Empire to protect."

Ahsoka turned toward Ghes and took his cuffed hands in hers.

"Ghes, wait. Why don't you just tell them what they want to know? It doesn't matter anymore anyway."

The room was silent as he thought it over, after a minute he sighed and gave his response.

"Fine, if that's what you want me to do, then I'll try. I just have to know one thing first: who's running the Empire with Palpatine out of the picture?"

Organa answered.

"Our souces in Galactic City say that ISB has taken over, headed by Isard."

"How'd he ever get anyone to follow him?"

"If by 'he' you mean Armand Isard, he didn't, he's been dead for years, his daughter's the one in control."

Ghes smirked, depressed by the thought of a galaxy run by Ysanne Isard.

"You should have lead with that. Now I have to help you before she kills every sane person in the galaxy."

"Well then, I'm glad we could reach an agreement, and I'll see if we can't find you some more comfortable accommodations."

"You damn well better. So, what do you want to know first?"

Organa looked to Skywalker as if asking if he was okay with what she was about to say, he nodded and she proceeded.

"Intelligence will question you at a later date, General, but for now… Ahsoka, would you mind telling us about what our father was like?"

Ahsoka smiled, it wasn't often she'd gotten to talk about those years of her life, and she'd be happy to reminisce about the man who'd been like a father to her with, apparently, his two children.

"Of course; I first met Anakin Skywalker during the Battle of Cristophsis…."

The End

 **That's it folks, the final version of _Marczak,_ the rewrite's done. This is the first thing I've ever put out there, I'm proud of it, and I thank you all for taking the time to read it. Special thanks to everyone who followed this story to the end, and everyone who's favorited it. Also, thanks to wolf730 for his assistance during the rewrite. Finally, in regards to what I'm going to be working on next, I've had two ideas in the works for a while that I'm going to start putting out chapters for this month(October), and the first short story in an anthology I'm writing with Wolf has been out for a while now (waiting for wolf to get off his ass and finish #2).**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed, and feel free to share any feedback or opinions you may have.**


End file.
